Why does my child need a flu shot part 1

Why does my child need a seasonal flu shot when he got one at 2, 4 and 6 months with a promise of another one at 12 months? 

I hear this question regularly in my office.  The answer is somewhat complicated.  First you need to understand that the vaccine given at 2, 4, 6 and 12-15 months is not a seasonal flu vaccine.

Seasonal flu or influenza is a virus.  That means that it is a piece or several pieces of protein that surround some genetic material, DNA or RNA.  That viral particle is not capable of eating nor is it capable of breathing.

The vaccine your child received at 2,4, 6 and 12 months is against Haemophilus influenza or HIB.  The unfortunate last name makes people think that theser are the same thing.  HIB is a bacterium.  That means that it is a living, breathing, eating organism.

4 doses of the HIB vaccine protect for life.  The seasonal flu (viral) vaccine however, needs to be repeated yearly because the virus changes its genetic code yearly.

I hope that this clarifies things for you some.

Kevin M. Windisch MD, FAAP
Sparks Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine
775-359-7111