About one-third of Americans parents won’t get their child a flu shot this year, according to a new poll from the National Poll on Children’s Health, which was released Monday.
- The poll results come even as children may be at risk for the novel coronavirus and the fatal COVID-19 disease.
- Two-thirds of parents said that they don’t think getting a flu shot for their child is more important this year than in years past.
Sarah Clark, associate director of the poll done by C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, Michigan Medicine, warned about the risks of the flu during the COVID-19 pandemic in a statement to CNN.
- “We may see peaks of flu and COVID-19 at the same time, which could overwhelm the health care system, strain testing capacity and potentially reduce our ability to catch and treat both respiratory illnesses effectively.”
Public health officials have called for all Americans to get their flu shot to keep themselves safe during the coronavirus pandemic, especially as the country heads toward a potential second wave in the fall, as I wrote for the Deseret News.
Dr. Miriam Alexander, with LifeBridge Health, recently told WBAL-TV 11 that October might be the best month to get a flu shot since the flu season often runs from October to March.
- “The reason for that is the flu shot seems to only work for about six months and we always have quite a lot of flu in our communities in March. We want to make sure people are protected against the flu in March.”