If you're around my young daughters these days and happen to mention the flu shot, you're likely to get an earful. "We got ours too late last year and got really sick," they'll tell you (as I look down in embarrassment). "It's really important to get one." They also, not surprisingly, were not at all upset when I made an appointment - nice and early! - for them to get vaccinated a few weeks ago. They knew it would hurt, but in the words of my 8-year-old, "it's worth it."
My girls - the walking pro-flu shot billboards that they are - were the first people I thought of when I came across a Stanford BeWell article this week on - you guessed it - the importance of flu shots. In the piece, infectious disease expert Cornelia L. Dekker, MD, answers questions about influenza and last year's flu vaccine (which failed to protect people against several strains of the flu), and she reminds local readers that shots are being offered on campus for students, staff and faculty for free.
Previously: How one mom learned the importance of the flu shot – the hard way and Ask Stanford Med: Answers to your questions about seasonal influenza
Photo by cignoh
