Flu Shot Pop Quiz

The kids are back in school and flu season is ramping up. Receiving the flu vaccine is the most important step parents can take in protecting themselves and their children from the flu and its associated respiratory complications, which can lead to unnecessary hospitalizations and sometimes death. Yet many still reject the flu vaccine due to common misconceptions. Here’s a quick pop quiz to test your knowledge of the flu shot.

Written by: Delia M. Rivera-Hernandez, MD

The kids are back in school and flu season is ramping up. Receiving the flu vaccine is the most important step parents can take in protecting themselves and their children from the flu and its associated respiratory complications, which can lead to unnecessary hospitalizations and sometimes death. Yet many still reject the flu vaccine due to common misconceptions. Here’s a quick pop quiz to test your knowledge of the flu shot.

True or False: You are at risk for flu complications even if you’re healthy.

This is true! Many parents believe that because they or their children are healthy, they are not at risk for flu complications, which is incorrect. Sixty percent of children who died from the flu in 2012-2013 had no recognized health problem that would put them at higher risk for a severe flu illness.

True or False: Babies and pregnant women shouldn’t be vaccinated.

This is false. The flu vaccine is recommended for anyone 6 months or older. Pregnant women should get the vaccine as well, because pregnancy puts moms-to-be at risk of a more complicated illness. The vaccine will also help protect their unborn babies, reducing the risk of miscarriage.

True or False: Children who aren’t vaccinated are at greatest risk for fatal complications.

This is true! Up to 90 percent of influenza-related deaths in children younger than 18 during the 2012-2013 flu season occurred in those who did not receive the vaccine. If these babies, children and adolescents had received the flu shot, they might not have become ill.

True or False: The flu shot will give me the flu.

This is false. It is impossible to catch the flu from the inactivated vaccine. It takes two weeks for the vaccine to develop a protective reaction, but it takes only two to five days to catch the virus. If someone develops the flu right after receiving the vaccine it is because the flu bug was already in his or her system.

True or false: The flu vaccine is not 100 percent effective.

This is true, but even when the flu vaccine is not 100 percent effective it reduces the risk of catching the flu. Flu viruses like to change often, and that is why each year’s vaccine is designed for the current season’s flu strains. Even when the strains in the vaccines don’t match all of the strains circulating that year, the vaccine offers some protection and can prevent more severe forms of the illness.