The groups have membership counts ranging from three to more than 33,000.
Some of these Facebook users live in Chicago, but others come from as far away as Australia. They are united under one banner, their many posts illustrate: a push against vaccinating themselves and their children to ward off disease.
But days after Florida public health officials announced that a child who hadn’t received the flu shot died of flu-related illness, doctors are reminding parents that it’s critically important to weigh the science supporting vaccination over the speculation that vaccines cause autism or other illness.
Here are five things to know about flu shots for children that viral social media posts won’t tell you:
1. Shots can prevent most childhood flu deaths.
Last season, the deadliest flu season for kids in the U.S. in decades, flu-related illness killed a record 180 children and teens, estimates the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This death toll might have been lower if more parents and guardians vaccinated their kids, public health officials said; around 80 percent of those who died hadn’t received a shot.
“These deaths for the most part could have been prevented,” said Dr. Sharon Nachman, division chief of infectious diseases at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital in New York. “That’s the big takeaway message.”
Viral misinformation about the flu shot — an injection that is recommended to everyone 6 months and older — and other vaccines can have long-term implications: The percentage of U.S. kids under 2 who haven’t received any of their recommended vaccines has quadrupled in the last 17 years, a recent CDC study states. That’s led to outbreaks of diseases thought to be all but eradicated — and can make flu season more deadly.
2. The earlier the better — and best before Halloween.
Getting information about the need for vaccines to some parents and guardians can be complicated, said Dr. Frank Belmonte, chief medical officer of Advocate Children’s Hospital.
Belmonte and Advocate Children’s are part of a local coalition pressing parents to “Be Flu Free by Halloween.” The public health campaign is geared toward getting kids vaccinated by Oct. 31. Doctors said the shot takes two weeks to reach full effectiveness and flu season starts kicking into high gear by November.
Flu or flu shot during pregnancy won’t raise autism risk in child »
“I feel for parents,” said Belmonte, a father of two. “There are a lot of mixed messages.”
With not just Halloween, but the holidays coming up, the likelihood that your child might be at gatherings with other sick kids is high. Doctors hope that getting the shot now could lessen your child’s risk. The shot is effective for several months afterward, doctors said.
3. Flu shots don’t cause the flu.
The most common questions doctors said they hear are: “Can you get the flu from a flu shot?” And “Why get the shot if you can still get the flu anyway?”
No, you can’t get the flu from a shot, said Belmonte, because “the influenza vaccine is a dead virus.”
And “It’s not 100 percent perfect, but the vaccine is safe and effective” at reducing flu’s severity, said Dr. Allison Bartlett, associate medical director of the infection control program at Comer Children’s Hospital.
4. Fears about vaccines often come from debunked studies.
A lot of fears about childhood vaccination stem from debunked research and studies, doctors said. Even though some of the hoaxes have been exposed, research that refutes the differing claims isn’t as accessible, he said.
Take, for instance, the rumor that the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine causes autism, Belmonte said. That claim stemmed from a study published in a British medical journal in 1998 and was eventually retracted, after grave ethical violations and falsified data were discovered. A doctor behind the study was ultimately charged with professional misconduct and barred from practicing medicine in the United Kingdom.
And while many studies in the last 20 years have debunked the autism-MMR vaccine link claimed by that first study, the misinformation persists.
“It is disappointing and difficult,” said Bartlett, who is also part of the “Be Flu Free” campaign coalition. “The science is settled. There is no controversy.”
5. Avoiding vaccinations makes it more likely other people will catch the flu.
Parents want to do the right thing for their children, Belmonte and Bartlett said, but by not vaccinating their kids — who are generally more vulnerable to flu than adults because their immune systems are not as developed — they put other children at risk.
“My kids’ school is tree-nut free,” Bartlett said. And while her own children aren’t allergic to nuts, “I’m gonna change my behavior to keep your kids safe,” Bartlett said. “Will you get your kids vaccinated?”
The more people within a group who are vaccinated, the higher the level of community protection, also called herd immunity. When many in a group are vaccinated, the spread of disease is limited. This can protect those who aren’t vaccinated because they aren’t able to get the vaccine and protect also those for whom a shot fails.
“It’s twofold, right? It’s protection for the child, and for all of those who can’t get vaccinated,” Bartlett said.