Influenza Vaccine Pros And Cons Essay

Everything has its pros and cons, so does the effects of influenza vaccine towards children. The influenza vaccine also can be harmful towards children as they may feel uncomfortable after receiving the shot and the vaccine is not suitable for all children.
The use of influenza vaccine among children should not be encouraged because it may cause discomfort to their body. For instance, it may cause side effects like Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) and pain at the site of injection. GBS is a nerve disorder which affects the peripheral nervous system (Maglio Christopher & Toale n.d.). GBS victims will usually feel frail, have breathing difficulties and may be paralysed from the hands to the legs in serious cases (Maglio Christopher & Toale n.d.).
Some people were also unable to walk due to GBS which had damaged the nerves that controls walking (Health Impact News n.d.). According to DiFazio (n.d.), the percentage of child death caused by GBS ranged from 5% to 10%. Another common side effect caused by influenza vaccine is the soreness at injection site. Maynard (2012) states that the chances of feeling sore after flu injection in children are about 20% and it can take 2 days for the pain to subside. Not only that, influenza vaccines are not always 100% effective in defending influenza virus. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (n.d.), people who take influenza vaccine would still have likeliness of 40% to 50% to be affected by influenza virus. Since there are many types of influenza virus strain, a child would be infected by influenza virus as well if the vaccine taken by the child does not contain the specific influenza strain that enables the body to destroy the virus (Disease Control and Prevention n.d.). Therefore, influenza vaccine should not be given to children to prevent unwanted sicknesses triggered by influenza vaccines.
Furthermore, influenza vaccine should not be given to children because it is not suitable for every child.
A reason to support this argument is because the vaccine may cause allergic reactions in some children which can threaten their life such as the egg allergy. Egg allergy occurs when a person’s self defence mechanism identifies egg protein as a dangerous substance and tries to eliminate it (Mayo Clinic Staff 2015). On rare occasions, egg allergy can lead to a complication called anaphylaxis which causes the body to become hypersensitive to the allergen and can be fatal (Mayo Clinic 2015). A child with anaphylaxis can experience shortness of breath, dizziness and inflammation of skin which requires the child to be sent to the hospital instantly and receive epinephrine shot (Mayo Clinic Staff 2013). AllergicChild.com (n.d.) reports that anaphylaxis triggered from food allergy had killed around 200 people yearly in USA. Moreover, influenza vaccine also should not be recommended to children who had Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) in the past (Boulanger n.d.). This is because influenza shot may cause the child to have GBS again as it is one of the side effects of influenza vaccine (Maglio Christopher & Toale n.d.). Hence, children should not take influenza vaccine because not every child’s immune system can tolerate with the vaccine’s ingredient and may result in
death.
In a nutshell, it is proven that children should not take influenza vaccine because it can cause them to feel uncomfortable due to the side effects and it is not suitable for all children. Parents should be aware about the negative impacts of influenza vaccine on children so unnecessary pain can be avoided.