The Importance of Having Your Children Vaccinated from the Flu

It’s that bone chilling time of year again with the passing of the Polar Vortex in full effect here in the Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill, and Apex areas.  You’ll be lucky if you can even get your child to put on a coat, let alone a hat and mittens, but what about those flu vaccines?  Is it too late to get one?  Are they even helpful?  Well the answer is no it’s not too late to get one and yes they are helpful. The single best way to prevent your child from getting the influenza virus is to make sure they are vaccinated annually.

          According to the CDC.gov, “each year an average of 20,000 children under the age of 5 are hospitalized because of influenza complications” and more than 165 flu-related pediatric deaths were reported during the 2012-2013 influenza season.  The flu is much more serious than the common cold and the CDC recommends that all children 6 months of age and older get the flu vaccine.

          There are a couple of different types of vaccines available for your children.  You can choose a standard dose shot that is approved for children over the age of 6 months or a standard dose nasal spray approved for all children over 2 years of age.  Each version of the vaccine protects against 3-4 different strains of the flu virus.  This helps to ensure that your children are protected from various forms of the flu that, based on research, are likely to appear during that particular influenza season.

          So where is the best place to search for that flu shot here in the Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Apex, and Chapel Hill areas? There’s no need to even have to go to your doctor’s office.  There are numerous CVS and Walgreens in the Morrisville, Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Apex, and Chapel Hill areas that offer these vaccinations.  There are also many Targets that have pharmacies including the smaller ones such as in Brier Creek of Raleigh and Supertargets located in Morrisville as well as Raleigh near Triangle Town Center and the Southpoint area of Durham.  Another place you may not expect to get your flu shot is Costco, either in Durham on N. Pointe Drive near Duke Campus or in Raleigh off of Wake Forest Road.

          It just goes to show that there are multiple locations here in Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill, Morrisville, and Apex where flu vaccinations are available.  Do your children a favor and get them vaccinated!  With extreme weather like the polar vortex rolling around all over the country, including our very own Raleigh, Durham, and Cary, it’s better to be safe than sorry!

         

The Nanny Boutique is a nanny and babysitting agency that specializes in placing caregivers or babysitters and nannies in the Apex, Raleigh, Durham, Cary and Chapel Hill areas.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 15th, 2014 at 3:20 pm and is filed under Raleigh Nanny & Babysitting Blog, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.