Kids’ Flu Shots Are Lagging — and Flu Season Is Heating Up
Political polarization could be one reason more children haven't been vaccinated. That's not only a problem for them, but for their older relatives.
Plus, they get a sticker.
Photographer: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty ImagesWe’re deep into sick kid season, a time where every parent is reacquainted with a familiar kind of helplessness: watching your feverish child shiver under the covers with little more to offer than yet another round of Tylenol; dragging them to a crowded urgent care clinic to try to divine if their mystery virus has a name and ideally a treatment; trying to coax them to just drink a little more Gatorade — please, even just one sip.
Which is why it’s disconcerting that more parents aren’t exerting at least some control by getting their kids the flu vaccine. While adults got their shots this fall at roughly the same levels as the past two years, kids are falling behind.