Data released by the National Poll on Children's Health indicates one-third of American parents will not get their children vaccinated for the flu this year.
OSF Health Care pediatrician Dr. Samina Yousuf says she hopes these parents will re-consider since COVID-19 and the flu are both contagious respiratory illnesses that share many of the same symptoms.
"If we can immunize as many children as we can, we can hopefully lower the incidence of flu that we see in children. And by doing that we can cut out the resources that would be used if a sick child presents to us and we do not know if this is COVID or if this is flu.”
Even without the threat of COVID, the flu is dangerous for children. A CDC study published in the journal Pediatrics shows the majority of children who died from the flu in recent years were not vaccinated.
