Do seasonal flu shots impede little kids ability to fight off pandemic flu?
Excerpt (but this is today’s must-read):Just when you thought the issue of seasonal and pandemic flu shots couldn’t get any more confusing, European researchers are questioning whether it makes sense to vaccinate little kids against seasonal flu. The scientists, from the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, argue preventing small children from being infected by – and developing immune responses to – seasonal flu viruses might make them more vulnerable when a flu pandemic rolls around. It’s not clear the theoretical concern they raise is true. But other scientists counter that even if it is, it makes more sense to try to protect children from a threat they face every year than one they might face every few decades. “The simple question is should we let young children suffer from a severe and potentially fatal but easily preventable illness, just because there is a theoretical possibility that withholding vaccination might result in a slightly less severe illness sometim
