Get a Flu Shot to protect Children this Flu Season

It’s important to remember that children are more likely than adults to get sick from flu. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that flu may be more serious than the common cold for children and can lead to serious complications that require hospitalization. Children are likely to be exposed to flu in a classroom or day care setting, and millions get sick from the flu each season. The first step to protecting children from the flu is to make sure that they and the people around them are vaccinated. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) and the CDC recommend that everyone aged 6 months and older get an annual flu vaccine. Remember, even healthy children and adults can get sick with flu. The CDC stresses that some children are at especially high risk of serious flu-related complications. Children aged 6 months through 18 years with certain long-term health problems, such as asthma, diabetes, or neurological and neurodevelopmental conditions also are at high risk for complications from flu. Children younger than 6 months old are too young to be vaccinated. The best way to protect an infant from flu is for the expecting mom to get vaccinated and to make sure parents, grandparents, siblings and caregivers around them are vaccinated. Flu vaccines offered at DHEC Health Departments are available by appointment. Call 1-800-868-0404 to make an appointment or go to www.scdhec.gov/flu/fluclinics to find the location closest to you. You can also find more information about preventing the flu on the DHEC website at www.scdhec.gov/flu.