swine flue vaccination for babies

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Updated on Jul 09, 2016
is it safe to go for swine flue vaccination??? actually my pediatrician told me to go for 2 doses of swine flue vaccination at 7&8 month but someone told me if i go for this vaccination then ive to give this vaccination evry year to my baby and also each tym ive to give vaccination of more power. is it true???



| Jul 09, 2016
Hi Praveen, Babies younger than 6 months are too small to get any influenza vaccine. But children from 6 months to 9 yrs should get 2 doses of vaccine within a month gap for enough antibodies to develop. One dose is not enough to make enough antibodies for children younger than 9. if the child is above 9, 1 dose is enough. Nowadays the seasonal vaccine covers 3 types of flu - bird flu(influenza A), swine flu (influenza A)and influenza B. Influenza A virus undergoes genetic changes every year. So the vaccine that was made using a particular strain of virus may not be effective the next year. But the effectiveness of previous year's vaccine for the following year depends on to what extent the virus has undergone changes. So doctors advise to take seasonal flu vaccine every year. Every year the dose /power of the vaccine doesnt change. It's just that the current year vaccine is made with a strain of currently circulating virus which may have undergone some genetic changes from previous year. If you have doubts, please talk to your pediatrician and trust him.

