It was Thursday night last week, a couple of days prior to the flu awareness event when I told our son that he and mama are going to get their Flu shots come Saturday. He readily said okay. Then I had to make sure I got the message across, I told him with an assumptive tone that Kuya Jed is a brave boy and is not afraid of injections, right? Again, he said yes. I knew we were good to go.
The environment of the seminar venue was inviting, especially for kids who were welcomed to the AVR with a neat cartoon movie. I have to give it to Sanofi Pasteur Phils. for their vigilance in this campaign and for getting down to have people know how real the dangers of influenza are.
The medical director of Sanofi Pasteur was the one who conducted the seminar. It was during the first minute of Dr. Ruby Mendoza-Dizon’s talk that she got my full attention. We are in the same boat, I share her sentiments. She only has one child and she would really go the distance to keep her child safe, especially against ailments and diseases. This is my reason as well why I have made sure my son is on schedule when it comes to his immunizations/Bakuna– right from birth. But truth be told, I have not gotten him this shot in his previous years. I thought since it was not part of the schedule in his baby book, I thought it was not that much of a deal. I was wrong.
I used to think that flu was just one of those days that you get to be under the weather and is gone before you know it. Aside from my personal experience of infecting my son with the flu a couple of months back, this seminar reinforced all my readings and widened my knowledge about influenza further. This contagious respiratory illness can actually be life threatening. It is said that in a tropical country such as ours, the incidence of flu is actually hiked up during the rainy months from June to August.
Practically everyone should get themselves immunized, especially those who are asthmatics, diabetics, children from 6months to 5 years old. 50 years old and above, health workers and those who are immunocompromised. But Dr. Dizon also emphasized that people who are allergic to eggs cannot take flu shots because of the plain fact that the vaccine is cultivated inside eggs. And if your body is not able to tolerate eggs, then understandably your body is most likely to have allergic reaction towards the shot. But for those who are not allergic to eggs or chicken then this vaccine will actually prove to be cheaper to spend for, than to get sick from the complications that influenza can bring you and your family. You might want to head over http://www.bakuna.ph for more information.
The timing of the invitation from Nuffnang Philippines was perfect. Our family is actually scheduled to get immunized against influenza or Trangkaso in our vernacular, this coming February as per the suggestion of my son’s pedia. The bonus was we did not just get educated with things that we need to learn about influenza but we were also given free flu shots by no less than the Vaxigrip brand. Amongst all other brands, studies show that this is by far the least that cause side effects.
The left photo is courtesy of Earth. These are my boys getting the shots. I also got mine, despite the lack of evidence. 🙂 For someone who got his flu vaccine for the first time and a toddler at that, my son did not show any side effect. No mild fever, no minor muscle pain the same with the hubby. It was just me who felt a little sore on the arm around 24 hours after the shot. But that was it. Dr. Dizon reiterated that it would take at least a couple of weeks before the shot will be able to protect us from the flu virus. So we still have to be careful.
Here is our little guy who was the first to volunteer to get the shot – the youngest from the bunch if I am not mistaken. He was startled all right when he saw the syringe, but he was back to his bouncy self in a jiff.
After the very informative lecture and the facts/figures about flu, our resolve as a family is to get ourselves immunized/Bakunado every single year from this point forward. 🙂
A Flu Awareness Campaign brought to you by Sanofi Pasteur
