Dr. Prashanth Kumar S

"It reduces complicated disease to a larger extent. So we have to bear in mind by giving flu shot will not prevent child from getting cough and cold, by giving the vaccine it reduces the chance of severe disease. By vaccinating kids with a flu vaccine that is relevant for that flu season and prevent life threatening events or ICU care or complicated care and that will put the child’s life at risk. So compared to the benefits and risks, the benefits outweigh the complications of the vaccination. Flu vaccine is very efficacious, and prevents the from severe complicated disease"

"Flu shot is perfectly safe. So when we keep vaccinating kids every now and then the first thing every parent will have is if it will have may side effect and will it hurt my baby, will it case lot of pain and swelling, all those things. When we start vaccinating kids right from birth especially 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 14 weeks most of this vaccination causes lot of pain and swelling. So every time parents experience lot of difficulty in soothing the child, especially when it comes to the flu shots, they are really painless. The components and vaccines does not cause any significant reaction or adverse reactions as we call it as adverse effects following immunization. So they cause very minimal pain. So most of the times when the child has minimal pain, most of the kids don’t cry at all and the parents get surprised and they ask did you really give the vaccine. So the things related to the vaccination, the pain or physical trauma the child bears the trauma the child bears will be very minimal with this flu shot. Coming to the side effects following flu shot will be very minimal. The components used in that are not allergenic or something that causes side effect. So far there is no reported case of side effect or serious effect after immunization. So by and large flu shots are very safe and they don’t cause any pain, swelling at all and they will be easy for us to administer and babies also tolerate it very well"

"Flu vaccine is very safe. The question why kids needs to get vaccinated against flu vaccination , basically the flu vaccine affects across all age groups but there are age groups that are more prone for a severe disease, as in like kids less than 5 years or someone more than 60 years or pregnant ladies. These are certain age groups more prone for severe disease. Not just a common flu that comes as a cough and a cold and goes away. So keeping this in mind, we target this age groups. So currently the Indian academy of paediatrician recommends any child less than 5 years should take flu vaccine compulsory till the age of 5 years. Not that we stop at 5 years, but these are the people who are more prone for this or the fragile age group. So this groups of kids are recommended to have flu vaccine every year. So if we see the severity of the disease affecting this groups of population will be more severe. So when kids of less than 5 years get an infection, the chances of them getting more sicker, getting into hospitalization and having an impact on the health will be more and more compared to the kids of older age group or a pregnant woman or people of age more than 60 years. These people when they suffer a simple flu they have higher chances of admitting to the hospital, higher chances of having the complication, or other heath related issues. So keeping that in mind, any child less than 5 years, currently the Indians Academy of pediatrics recommends annual flu shots for any kids less than 5 years"

"Flu as all of you knows it is a seasonal disease. In India again the peak is rainy season. In most of the times we see the peak of cases coming between the month of June to October to November. In certain art of India something like the northern part of India, close to equator, they get constant cases of flu throughout the year. Because they are close to the equator, they do get something called as a southern pole disease pattern also. So we do see a peak season, somewhere between June to October to November but throughout the year, we do keep seeing flu season, but again the concentration will be more around the rainfall, around June to October. That is when we see more cases of flu. That is an annual disease, all over the year, we keep seeing flu . Flu is an airborne disease. It keeps spreading from person to person. Like during peak seasons, how to prevent yourself or kid from flu is to keep away from crowded places. Practically it may not be possible but something like a cinema theaters or all or crowded places, especially during season of flu, many of them will be getting a bit of cough and cold. So when the child comes in contact especially during peak seasons, especially when the child acquires infect form one of these people will be there. So avoid crowded places and vaccinate your child will be a way of preventing flu infection"