DOUBLE DOSE DEBUT

Keep this in mind for your younger patients.

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1. Counselling Conundrum: a real question from a patient

2. Concise Conclusion: a straight-forward patient-friendly answer 

3. Quick Wrap-up 

Clearly, there are nuances that may not be captured in this format. The goal here is to provide you with helpful counselling tips which often draw from multiple sources or those which are not commonly accessed by busy healthcare providers serving the community.

Counselling Conundrum: "My baby is only 4 months old. Why won't you give her the flu shot? And my 3 year old has never had one; why does he suddenly need two this year?"

Concise Conclusion: Your daughter is too young for the shot to actually work, not because it would hurt her. Under 6 months, the vaccine just does not produce enough protection to be worthwhile. The best way to protect her is to vaccinate everyone in the house instead. For your son, because he is under 9 and has never had a flu shot before, he needs 2 doses this season, at least 4 weeks apart. After this year, he only needs one a year like the rest of us.

Quick Wrap-up: Infants under 6 months mount a poor immune response, so the vaccine is not useful in that age group even though it is not a safety concern. That is exactly why cocooning matters: household contacts and caregivers of infants under 6 months should all be vaccinated, since the baby cannot be. For previously unvaccinated children from 6 months to under 9 years, 2 doses are needed the first season because they are less likely to have had prior exposure to influenza, and one dose alone does not prime them well enough. It is a first-time rule, not an annual one.

Dive Deeper

1) Influenza vaccines: Canadian Immunization Guide - Canada.ca

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