MACONY Flu Clinics

Influenza is the most common vaccine-preventable, and potentially life-threatening illness. According to the Federal Centers for Disease Control: 

Influenza (“the flu”) is more dangerous than the common cold for children. Each year, many children get sick with seasonal influenza; some of those illnesses result in death.

• Children commonly need medical care because of influenza, especially before they turn 5 years old.
• Severe influenza complications are most common in children younger than 2 years old.
• Children with chronic health problems like asthma, diabetes and disorders of the brain or nervous system are at especially high risk of developing serious flu complications.
• Each year an average of 20,000 children under the age of 5 are hospitalized because of influenza complications.

If your child is over 2 years old and has no chronic illness such as asthma, they can probably receive the nasal flu vaccine. The nasal flu vaccine is a weakened live virus vaccine that has been shown to be very safe and probably somewhat more effective than the injectable form of the vaccine. 

Please call us in early September each year for a nurse appointment so that your child can receive the influenza vaccine.