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Flu Season Vaccine Help

What the CDC States About Flu Vaccines and Vaccine Side Effects

Oct 1, 2009 Stacy Herlihy

Flu season is frightening. Turning to the Internet can be even more scary. Finding good sources about vaccination can make you feel less scared even if you're not sick.

Flu season happens annually. Each year as fall starts people around the world start confronting recurrent problems with an outbreak of influenza. Influenza is a dangerous illness that can lead to all kinds of serious complications including difficulty breathing, severe cough, excess production of phlegm, inability to eat, bad headaches and extreme exhaustion. Sufferers may spend hours coughing and sneezing. Someone with the flu may be unable to rise from their beds for a period of several weeks.

Flu Shots

Fortunately you can help lessen your chance of getting the flu with a flu vaccination. The Centers For Disease Control in conjunction produces flu vaccinations months in advance with the assistance of the World Health Organization. Officials at the CDC begin predictions for each flu season. Based on these predictions they then prepare specific strains to create a vaccine. The vaccine in incubated in eggs and brought to production before the season starts.

Information About The Vaccine

In recent years rumors about the flu vaccine (and vaccines in general) have become rampant. Opponents have argued that vaccines do more harm than good and can actually cause disease rather than prevent it. They point to the flu vaccine as an example of the problems a vaccine can create.

As a result of such rumor mongering some people have become fearful of the vaccine. They may turn to the internet to find out more about it. Fortunately the internet is a very good place to look for information about the flu vaccine.

Centers For Disease Control

One very good place to start any search is with the actual website of the Centers For Disease Control. Here visitors will find a tremendous amount of information about the production of the vaccine as well as any possible side effects. They will also find out information about who should and should not get it as well as information about the production of the vaccine.

This is a great place to help dispel any fears someone might have about the vaccine. For example, opponents have pointed out that the flu vaccine contains thimerosol, a form of mercury. The CDC website points out that, while a dose of the vaccine does contain a small amount of mercury, the amount contained in the flu shot is roughly five micrograms of mercury. This is a minute amount that is less than someone would consume eating a tuna fish sandwich three times a year.

Opponents also argue that the flu vaccine isn’t entirely effective. They point to possible flu vaccine side effects such as redness at the area of the injection. The CDC reminds people that flu vaccine reactions are typically minor and rarely cause long term problems.

Flu season is always a daunting prospect particularly if someone has suffered through a bout of the flu before. But fortunately there are many tools to help answer your fears. Use websites such as the one at the Centers For Disease control to make influenza season and the influenza vaccine far less painful.

The copyright of the article Flu Season Vaccine Help in General Medicine is owned by Stacy Herlihy. Permission to republish Flu Season Vaccine Help in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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