Every few months, I’ll stumble upon something on my Facebook feed about a celebrity, and their opposition to vaccinating their children. When did it become totally mainstream to not vaccinate your kids?

As a mom and a doctor, it really freaks me out when I read about measles outbreaks in Canada or the United States.  It actually freaks me out more than when I read about Zika virus, or Ebola.

Back in the first half of the 20th century, hundreds of thousands of children were left dead or debilitated from diseases like polio and  measles.  Before the polio vaccine was introduced in 1955, thousands of Canadian children were affected.

Polio used to be called “infantile paralysis” or “the crippler”; because it could permanently damage nerve cells that control muscles. Thanks to immunization, Canada has been polio free for the last 20 years.

So that’s why we never hear about these diseases anymore.

We managed to effectively eradicate many devastating diseases from a large part of the world through vaccination programs, however, unfortunately, there are other parts of the world where widespread vaccination isn’t possible. And every year, travelers who aren’t immune, visit places where diseases like measles are active, and bring them back. If parents choose to not vaccinate their kids, there will be whole crops of susceptible people, so that one infected traveler can pass the disease on to others including infants who are too young to be vaccinated.

So why not keep your kids away from people who seem really sick, and prevent transmission?

Well, that’s good sense, and I’m certainly not knocking it. But it’s important to remember that these infections are highly contagious, and can manifest themselves as illnesses of varying severity in different people. Like how you may have had the sniffles, but your husband was down for a week with the flu? Well the same is true of measles, for example. It may cause nothing but a mild ear infection in one kid, but a horrible brain infection in another.  And there’s no way to know the outcome ahead of time.

The other thing to know is that some groups of people, like young babies, elderly people, and pregnant women, are more susceptible to catching and getting sick from the disease. So like, when your sister who hasn’t told anyone she’s pregnant yet comes to visit your child who you think just has a cold, but is actually shedding whooping cough…  You get the idea.

As parents, we all want the same thing – to protect our kids from harm. I’m a mom to 3 young boys, and my main concern is to keep them safe and happy. I’ve chosen to vaccinate them because I am overwhelmed with the amount of sound data supporting the benefits of vaccines. I don’t want my boys to get sick from whooping cough, measles, or mumps.  If I had daughters, I wouldn’t want them to get cervical cancer. I’ve reviewed the literature, and haven’t seen any compelling quality evidence to suggest that vaccines are bad.

So my advice to the editors of that tabloid magazine? Stick to what you know. And I won’t talk to my patients about what colour pants they should or shouldn’t wear after Labour Day…

This post was developed in association with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. The opinions of the author are their own.

Getting your family immunized is an important part of creating a foundation for a healthy life and it’s normal to have questions. Here’s the information you need to make an informed decision for your family.

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Pourquoi ne suis-je pas les conseils des célébrités sur l’éducation des enfants?

Tous les deux ou trois mois, je tombe sur un article de mon fil d’actualité Facebook au sujet de l’opposition d’une célébrité à la vaccination de ses enfants. À quel moment la non-vaccination des enfants est-elle devenue une tendance à la mode?

En tant que mère et médecin, je ressens un profond malaise lorsque je lis des articles sur les éclosions de rougeole qui surviennent au Canada ou aux États-Unis. Mon malaise est en fait encore plus profond lorsque je lis des articles sur le virus Zika ou Ebola.

Dans la première moitié du 20e siècle, des maladies telles que la polio et la

rougeole ont tué ou affaibli des centaines de milliers d’enfants. Avant le lancement du vaccin contre la polio en 1955, des milliers d’enfants canadiens étaient touchés.

On appelait la polio la « paralysie infantile » parce qu’elle pouvait causer des dommages permanents aux cellules nerveuses qui activent les muscles. Grâce à la vaccination, aucun cas de polio n’a été signalé au Canada au cours des vingt dernières années.

C’est la raison pour laquelle nous n’entendons plus parler de ces maladies.

Nous avons réussi à éradiquer efficacement de nombreuses maladies dévastatrices dans une grande partie du monde au moyen de  programmes de vaccination.  Cependant, il n’est pas possible malheureusement d’utiliser la vaccination à grande échelle dans d’autres régions du globe. Chaque année, les voyageurs non immunisés qui visitent des endroits où des maladies comme la rougeole est active les ramènent au Canada. Si les parents choisissent de ne pas faire vacciner leurs enfants,  des cultures entières de personnes sensibles seront atteintes de sorte qu’un voyageur infecté peut transmettre la maladie à d’autres, y compris à des nourrissons qui sont trop jeunes pour être vaccinés.

Pourquoi donc ne pas tenir vos enfants éloignés des personnes qui semblent réellement malades et ainsi prévenir la transmission des maladies?

Eh bien, cela a du sens, et je ne dénigre certainement pas cette idée. Mais il est important de se rappeler que ces infections sont hautement contagieuses et peuvent se présenter comme des maladies de divers degrés de gravité chez différentes personnes. C’est comme si vous aviez eu un léger rhume, mais que votre mari avait la grippe pendant une semaine. Eh bien, il en va de même pour la rougeole, par exemple. Cela ne peut causer rien d’autre qu’une légère infection des oreilles chez un enfant, mais une horrible infection du cerveau chez un autre. Et il n’y a pas moyen de connaître le résultat à l’avance.

Il faut aussi savoir que certains groupes de personnes tels que les jeunes bébés, les personnes âgées et les femmes enceintes sont plus susceptibles d’attraper une maladie.  C’est comme si votre sœur qui n’a dit à personne encore qu’elle est enceinte vient rendre visite à votre enfant qui, à votre avis, n’a qu’un rhume, mais a en fait des quintes de toux coquelucheuse… Vous comprenez?

En tant que parents, nous voulons tous la même chose   ̶  protéger nos enfants contre la maladie. Je suis mère de trois jeunes garçons et ma plus grande priorité est de les garder en sécurité et heureux. J’ai choisi de les faire vacciner parce que j’ai accès à de nombreuses données solides appuyant les avantages des vaccins. Je ne veux pas que mes garçons aient la coqueluche, la rougeole ou les oreillons. Si j’avais des filles, je ne voudrais pas qu’elles aient le cancer du col de l’utérus. J’ai passé en revue la documentation et je n’ai vu aucune preuve solide irréfutable laissant indiquer que les vaccins sont mauvais pour la santé.

Donc, mon conseil aux rédacteurs de ce tabloïde? Tenez-vous en à ce que vous savez. Et je n’aurai pas une discussion avec mes patients sur la couleur des pantalons qu’ils doivent ou ne doivent pas porter après la fête du Travail.

Ce blogue a été rédigé en association avec le ministère de la Santé et des Soins de longue durée de l’Ontario. Les opinions de l’ auteur lui appartiennent.

The post Why I Don’t Take Parenting Advice From Celebrities appeared first on Talia Zenlea.

There are more than 100 types of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) out there, and it’s a VERY common virus that affects both females and males.

How common?

About 75% of sexually active Canadians will have at least one HPV infection during their lifetime.

And we have to remember that it’s not just intercourse that spreads HPV – any sexual contact can potentially cause an infection. Luckily, most people who are exposed to a strain of HPV clear the virus without any lasting effects. However, some people don’t, and the effects can be devastating.

As doctors, we care a lot about HPV, and here’s why: HPV causes not only genital warts, but cancer as well.

In women, HPV can cause cervical cancer, and in men, it can cause throat and anal cancer.

I have personally seen young, otherwise healthy people diagnosed with these cancers. Yikes. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women aged 20-44, and in Canada, almost 400 women die each year from it. Young women. Our daughters, sisters, mothers, friends.

Thankfully, a safe and very effective vaccine exists against the most problematic strains of HPV – the ones that cause the majority of cancers and warts. In Canada, two vaccines exist to protect us from HPV – Gardasil and Cervarix. Gardasil protects against strains that cause warts AND cancer; Cervarix protects against two strains known to cause cancer only. Health Canada has recently approved Gardasil 9, which protects again 9 strains of HPV. These 9 strains are known to cause 90% of cervical cancers, 75% of vaginal and anal cancers, and over 90% of warts. Wow – in vaccine talk, that is a very effective vaccine! This vaccine is approved for females aged 9-45 and males aged 9-26.  There are three doses and it is important to complete all three. As always, talk to your own doctor to see if these vaccines are right for you, given your personal medical history.

And an important point to remember: being vaccinated does not take place of regular Pap tests to screen for early changes of cervical cancer. These are still a very important part of your health.

As a family doctor, this vaccine excites me. A vaccine against cancer – how amazing! Gardasil underwent years of testing before hitting shelves. It is safe. My own children will absolutely be getting vaccinated ASAP. Happy 9th birthday, kids!! Research is ongoing, but it is thought that the vaccination is most effective when given before the age of 15. But it’s still effective anytime in the above stated age ranges.

A website I like to direct my patients to for more information is www.hpvinfo.ca. Educating yourself and your children is a powerful thing. Protecting your children from harm is never going to be a mistake. Telling them to wear a seatbelt does not make them want to drive recklessly. Ensuring they wear a bike helmet does not guarantee they will be signing up for BMX races. Talking to them about safer sex and vaccinating them against HPV does not mean they will want to be sexually active early or often. It means that when they do become sexually active, they will be protected from the worst strains of HPV.

The post The Vaccine That Prevents Cancer appeared first on Talia Zenlea.

The topic of gift-giving has come up recently in my family.

I love seeing the smile on my kids’ faces when they get something they like. That something doesn’t necessarily need to be huge – yesterday my son got a free paper subway and it hasn’t left his side since.

I want to teach them to appreciate that special feeling of having something they love, taking good care of it, and valuing it, but it sometimes conflicts with me also wanting to teach them to appreciate what they already have, and not to always expect more and more and more.

A few months ago, I had my third baby boy.  It was the first time I had a baby in the city where most of my family lives, so there was an out-pouring of gifts, not only for the new guy but for the other boys, too. (This was compounded by the fact that my new baby was born on my older son’s third birthday…) At one point, a family member came, and my older son asked if she had brought him a present. She said she had, he opened it, and told her he didn’t like it.

It was the first time I’ve ever been mortified by my kid’s behaviour.

And I realized it wasn’t his fault at all. I was embarrassed for myself, and what we had unintentionally taught him over the previous few weeks.

As the winter holiday season gets nearer, I want to be mindful of how we approach the topic of gifts with my toddlers, and hopefully teach them a better lesson this time around.  I also know how much fun it is to buy a cool gift for someone and know they’ll love it and use it. I want to make sure that’s part of the process, too.

So this year, I’ve decided to have my kids participate in Project Snowman, a really awesome effort by a local mom in my area to outfit 1000 kids in need of snowsuits. I plan to take them shopping, have them pick out a snowsuit they love, wrap it, decorate it, and drop it off, and hopefully have them understand the meaning and value of the gifts they are giving. I’m also having them pick out one thing to buy for their brothers, so they can actually see the joy a gift can bring someone else.

I’m hoping that this time around, they learn to enjoy the process of giving, more than that of receiving.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

How do you approach gift-giving with your toddlers? Join me in a conversation! I’d love to hear your ideas, too.

The post Project Snowman: Teaching My Kids To Give appeared first on Talia Zenlea.

Last week, the journal Pediatrics published a study describing the characteristics of physicians who dismiss families for refusing vaccines. Perhaps most shocking was the finding that 83% of the over 500 physicians surveyed reported that in a typical month, at least 1% of parents in their practice refused at least 1 infant vaccine.  Many personal stories from doctors followed in the news, and as I read them, my first thought was – how terrible. How could a doctor refuse to care for a whole group of patients?  Especially vulnerable children, who had no say in the decision. It goes against everything we’ve been taught.

But then I read on.

One of these doctors instituted the policy of refusing to care for unvaccinated families after an unvaccinated child showed up in his waiting room with whooping cough, exposing several infants and another child with leukemia to this potentially fatal and preventable illness.

It hit a chord. As the mom of 3 young boys, someone is always sick in my household. We’re cautious, but not over-the-top about germs. I know kids get sick, and I know they can fight colds with strong immune systems, and that it’s not the end of the world. I’ve had the flu, I even had chicken pox, and I lived to tell.

But whooping cough, influenza, chicken pox, measles, and many other vaccine-preventable infections aren’t “just colds.” They are serious infections that can kill people. And just because one of these didn’t cause a debilitating illness in me or you, it doesn’t mean that if or when we get them we can’t pass them on to someone who doesn’t have the immune strength to fight them. You may have already read about why I chose to get a flu shot this year  – to protect my son, my grandmother, and my good friend, all of whom could die from the infection that in me might only feel like a no-big-deal-kinda-cold.

The recent study in Pediatrics showed that in the states where doctors were less likely to dismiss patients for refusing vaccines, there were lower vaccination rates and higher rates of vaccine-preventable diseases. So while my gut reaction was at first that these doctors were betraying their patients by dismissing them, I then thought about all of the other vulnerable children in their practices that they were protecting. And I thought about the Hippocratic oath we all took in medical school – where we vowed to “take care that [our patients] suffer no hurt or damage.” And things got a lot less obvious.

As an adult gastroenterologist, I don’t have a ton of conversations about vaccinating children, but every day I talk to people about illnesses and various ways of treating them. And my stance has never been to be someone who paternalistically dictates a treatment plan to a patient. My patients are adults, my peers, and I respect their intelligence. I think it’s overstepping my boundaries to be telling them what to do. Instead, I see it as my job to provide them with all the info they need, so that they can make educated decisions for themselves. Except in really unique circumstances, most of the people I see are competent adults, who have the right to make their own decisions, even ones that I don’t agree with.

For the most part, I feel that way because their health decisions are their business and don’t have much direct impact on the physical health of anyone except themselves. But what I’ve realized is that when it comes to vaccines, that’s just not true. Those decisions impact the people around them far more than they impact themselves. So I really feel for those pediatricians who face this everyday. They’re trying to “do no harm.” Aren’t they doing a ton of harm by allowing unsuspecting vulnerable children to sit in their waiting rooms with people who could realistically be carrying preventable and life-threatening infections?

So why is it that people are more and more refusing to get vaccines for themselves and their kids? The short answer is, I have no idea. I set out to write a few of the most common reasons, and explain whether they are valid or not. But as I did, I realized I sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher (whaamp-whaamp-whaamp) – this is really, really old news, and did I really need to be belabouring these points? I can’t imagine that anyone, especially someone who had made the conscious choice to refuse the vaccines the pediatrician was recommending for their child, would not know that the study showing a link between thimerosal and autism was retracted and the author totally discredited (but if you’re curious, the top three reasons people refuse vaccines article can be found here). I think it goes deeper – an inherent mistrust of mainstream science and medicine, maybe that all of this “good information” is just part of a giant conspiracy theory, or some sort of secret arrangement between every doctor and the companies that manufacture vaccines. How can a doctor carry on a relationship with a patient or family who feels this way? Mutual trust is fundamental to a sound doctor-patient relationship.

Like I said, I’m a mom to 3 young boys, and my main concern is to keep them safe and happy. I’ve chosen to vaccinate them because I am overwhelmed with the amount of sound data supporting the benefits of vaccines. I don’t want my boys to get sick from whooping cough, measles, or mumps.  I don’t want any potential future daughters-in-law to get cervical cancer. And I haven’t seen any compelling quality evidence to suggest that vaccines are bad. I’m a doctor and so are 90% of the people I know, and no one I know gets kickbacks of any sort from anyone for recommending or administering vaccines. The only juice we all drank was the one called I Practice Evidence Based Medicine. And as for the unvaccinated children sharing a pediatricians waiting room with my kids? I think it’s scary. Really scary. I’m comforted because I know my kids are most likely immune to those infections. Because I’m lucky and my kids are healthy. But that’s not the case for everyone, and if it weren’t for me, I’d be out of that waiting room in a heartbeat.

Oh, and Bellyblog’s very own media producer Dr. Seema Marwaha made this video that might help explain some of those misconceptions I talked about.

The post What You Don’t Know About Vaccines appeared first on Talia Zenlea.

In a previous blog post, I talked about a recent study describing the characteristics of physicians who refused to care for families who declined vaccines for their children. I talked about how I suspected it was about something much deeper than just misinformation, or misconception. But I also promised that I would make some of the info available here in case there was anyone who really didn’t know whether to believe the hype about vaccines and autism, and who was seeking to educate themselves in order to make a good decision for their child.

Here are the 3 most common reasons why people refuse vaccines, explained.

If these infections were so serious, why don’t we hear more about them?

So polio causes a really bad disease called poliomyelitis. In the 80s, hundreds of thousands of children across the world were left paralyzed by its effects. Then a world-wide vaccination program was implemented, and 15 years later, rates of poliomyelitis were down 99.9%, and the disease was completely eradicated from the Western Hemisphere, Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. That’s why we never hear about it anymore. Because we managed to eradicate a devastating disease from a large part of the world. Through vaccination.

Vaccines contain mercury (thimerosal) and that causes autism.

This association has not been shown. The study that described the association was retracted, because the guy who wrote it made up the results. They are no more valid than me saying right now that the MMR vaccines causes the apples on my apple tree to rot. I just made that up. I don’t even have an apple tree. This was a really, really bad case of research misconduct. There have been countless studies since then that have not supported the association between MMR and autism. The Institute of Medicine rejected the causal relationship in 2004.

Moreover, with the exception of certain flu shot formulations, no vaccines in the US or Canada have contained thimerosal in almost 20 years. And even if they did, thimerosal isn’t considered a dangerous form of mercury. The kind of mercury that can cause health problems is most commonly found in fish. So if you want to protect your children, ditch the tuna sandwich, not the flu shot. (PS – most single-dose flu shots and nasal flu mist don’t contain thimerosal.)

I had chicken pox and it wasn’t that bad.

Me too. Aside from some unfortunate family photos, I didn’t suffer any lasting consequences. But that’s because I was a healthy 5 year old with an intact immune system. Pregnant women, adults, babies, the elderly, and people who have compromised immune systems can die from chicken pox and other vaccine-preventable illnesses, and are much more likely to wind up in the hospital from complications. Since these diseases are so highly contagious, unvaccinated children pose a major health threat to these more vulnerable populations.

Bellyblog’s media producer Dr. Seema Marwaha made this video that also might help explain some of these misconceptions.

The post Vaccine Myths, Explained appeared first on Talia Zenlea.

Childhood Obesity, A Heavy Burden

As a pediatrician who treats children and adolescents with obesity, many parents have asked me, “Why is my child obese?”

I have to admit that I don’t have a good answer to this question. It’s not as simple as an imbalance between calories consumed and calories burned. The medical literature points to the interaction of genetic, physical, behavioral, and environmental factors – meaning it’s really complicated, and there’s isn’t a single culprit.

Most importantly, it’s not the child’s fault.

The Canadian Medical Association recently declared obesity to be a chronic disease. Greater than 20% of Canadian children are overweight and more than 10% have obesity. Overweight and obese children are more likely to become overweight adults.

Children with obesity carry a heavy burden, not just physically, but emotionally, too.

Obesity is associated with the development of physical problems including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and emotional problems such as depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem.

Although clinical treatments have shown minimal impact on body weight, lifestyle changes like improving sleep, increasing physical activity, and changing nutrition and eating behaviors can lead to long-lasting emotional health and wellness in overweight and obese children and adolescents.

My team created this video to describe the complexity of childhood obesity, reduce the obesity stigma, and provide simple advice on how to improve the health and wellness of children and adolescents. We entered it into a competition through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health (IHDCYH). Part of the decision on who wins is by audience vote through YouTube likes. So please watch it, “like” it, and share it, and help help us to reduce the heavy burden that children and adolescents with obesity carry.

(To vote: Play the video. On the bottom right side of the video screen there’s a YouTube icon – click there to “watch in YouTube”. Then click the thumbs up icon. You’ll be asked to sign in, which you can even do using your gmail address.)

The post The Heavy Burden of Childhood Obesity appeared first on Talia Zenlea.

Ghouls, goblins and ghosts will soon be upon us! With the candy corn, pumpkins and costumes filling the stores, we know that Halloween is just around the corner. This year, I can’t wait to take my 10-month old trick-or-treating (or rather, me holding him in his cute costume and letting him watch all the action). Although this tike will be with me the entire time, there are some things we should always keep in mind when letting our children out for a little spook-tacular fun on Halloween. Here are 5 easy tips for a safer evening!

1. Join the fun. For little kids this is a no-brainer, they can’t go places without you! But it is important to remember to walk with your child when they actually knock on the door. For older kids and teenagers, having mom in her Princess Elsa costume trotting behind them may not be ideal, so for these kids see #2 below…
2. Be a spy. For teenagers, if they MUST go sans mom, make sure you know exactly what neighborhoods they are planning to go and have appropriate check in times. Better yet, try to find an area like a strip-mall or street front where you can sit at Starbucks and drink a pumpkin spice latte while they collect sweets a few doors down.
3. Check out the goods. Before you let your kiddos get their hands dirty, sift through their goody bag. Make sure to remove any open candies, candies that aren’t appropriate for their age group (i.e. choking hazards) or anything else that may look suspicious.
4. Lighten up! With so many people and cars on the road, it is best to stay in an area where you will be well seen. This not only makes it easy for you to find your little Olaf if he runs too fast, but also to ensure that he will be visible to the surrounding traffic.
5. Say Cheese! These are treasured moments in your child’s life and chronicling annual costumes is a must!

The post 5 Tips for a Safer Halloween appeared first on Talia Zenlea.

Ramona is my oldest friend in the world – we’ve been friends since birth (seriously!).
The pic above is one of us taken sometime in the 80s.

And here’s a recent one of her with her family.

Ramona is maybe the funniest person I know. She’s also the sweetest, kindest, most thoughtful person you’ll ever meet.

Pretty much anyone who meets Ramona remains a lifelong friend, because that’s the kind of person she is.

Ramona needs your help this year.

Ramona was born with cystic fibrosis, an inherited disease that, among other things, has made her prone to trouble breathing and recurrent lung infections. Over time, these problems led to worsening function of her lungs, and last fall she got really sick. She couldn’t breathe on her own. It was even hard for her to breathe on life-support. She couldn’t talk to her kids or hug them or kiss them, and I was worried she’d never see them again.

Thankfully, Ramona was the recipient of a life-saving lung transplant. Recovering from what she endured is no joke. She was in the hospital for almost a year.

That’s a picture of Ramona and her husband. She’s finally home, and starting to live her life again.

But in order for Ramona’s body to thrive with someone else’s lungs, she has to take a lot of medications to suppress her body’s natural instinct to recognize the lungs as foreign and attack them. They work by suppressing her immune system. An unfortunate consequence of that is that her body isn’t going to be as great as everyone else’s at fighting infections. She also might not be able to develop immunity after vaccines the way the rest of us would.

The flu is a nuisance. Some of us don’t want the flu shot because it hurts, or because we believe that it makes us feel sick.

If Ramona gets the flu this year, she could die.

The best way to protect Ramona from the flu is to prevent her from being exposed. And the only way that can be done is if the rest of us get vaccinated. For every one person like Ramona, there are a whole bunch more who are also depending on our collective immunity.

Here’s my littlest son Cole.

He’s too young for a flu shot, and his immune system isn’t mature enough to fight the flu.

And this is Nanny, my grandmother. If anyone asks, she’s 75, but (shhh) she’s actually almost 100 and her body is too old to mount great immunity to the flu shot anymore, nor fight the actual infection.

So though getting the flu shot can be a drag, for people like Ramona, Cole, Nanny, and so many more, you’re actually saving their lives.

Getting the flu shot is really easy and no, it doesn’t cause the flu.

Save someone’s life this year – Screw the Flu!

The post Want to Save a Life? Now’s Your Chance appeared first on Talia Zenlea.

Think you got the flu from your flu shot? Think again.

Did you know that the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the PHAC (Public Health Agency of Canada) now recommend the flu vaccine for everyone over 6 months of age?

That means you.

The flu vaccine is safe, even for pregnant women and people with chronic illnesses.

Can a flu shot give you the flu?

No. The flu shot can not cause the flu. The flu vaccine is made from either NO VIRUS AT ALL (recombinant vaccine) or from DEAD virus.

The recombinant vaccine is made without any flu virus at all. Manufacturers isolate certain proteins from the flu virus, and combine them with portions of another virus that doesn’t cause disease but that grows well and can replicate. This “recombinant” virus then grows and grows in insect cells, and the flu protein is then harvested and purified. When injected in you, this protein triggers an immune response, resulting in immunity to the flu virus.

The more common flu vaccine uses an inactivated, or dead, flu virus. The live flu virus is injected into either mammalian cells or hen’s eggs and allowed to grow and replicate. Once there’s enough, the virus is harvested in large amounts and killed, and the antigen (the protein in the virus that triggers an immune response in people) is purified out to make the flu shot.

The one exception to this is nasal spray flu vaccine, in which the flu virus isn’t killed. It’s just weakened (“attenuated”) to the point of not being able to cause illness. In addition, it’s cold-adapted, meaning that even if it could cause illness, it would only be able to so at cooler temperatures, not in the warm environment of human lungs.

What are the most common side effects of the flu vaccine?

The most common reactions from the flu shot are soreness, redness, tenderness or swelling where the shot was given. Low-grade fever, headache and muscle aches lasting a shot period of time (less than 2 days) can also occur.

There have been a few studies done looking at reactions to the flu shot. In one study, investigators gave some people flu shots, and other people salt water injections. The only difference was that the people who got the real flu shot had more soreness at the injection site.  There were no differences at all as far as body aches, fever, cough, runny nose or sore throat.

So you can’t get the flu from the flu shot. The whole point of the flu shot is that you don’t get the flu, or if you do, that it’s a milder illness. Check out our pulmonary and critical care expert Dr. Robyn Scatena’s 4 Reasons to Get Vaccinated. Also take a look at this Screw the Flu video from Bellyblog.ca’s own Media Producer, Dr. Seema Marwaha, along with her op-ed piece on Healthy Debate about the recent ruling striking down the “vaccinate-or-mask” policy for nurses.

The post Screw the Flu: Getting the Flu From Your Flu Shot appeared first on Talia Zenlea.

Want to stop the spread of flu? Get vaccinated.

Did you know that the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the PHAC (Public Health Agency of Canada) now recommend the flu vaccine for everyone over 6 months of age?

That means you.

The flu vaccine is safe, even for pregnant women and people with chronic illnesses. And no, you can’t get the flu from your flu shot.

Here are 4 reasons why you should get your flu shot this year, and do your part to Screw the Flu.

It’s ridiculously easy. It takes about 5 minutes, and you can get it at drug stores or at flu vaccine clinics at your doctors’ office or sometimes even at work

It’s incredibly safe. The most common reaction to a flu shot is a sore arm. That’s it. Other reactions are extremely rare and MUCH less common than all the bad things that can happen to you if you actually get the flu.

You will protect yourself from the flu. You are less likely to get the flu, and if you do get the flu, are less likely to get really sick. That means less days at home in bed and more vacation days to sit on the couch or plan a winter escape.

You will protect other people, too. If you get the flu shot, you are less likely to pass the virus on to children, older people, and other people who can get REALLY sick or even die from the flu.

Check out this Screw the Flu video from Bellyblog.ca’s own Media Producer, Dr. Seema Marwaha, along with her op-ed piece on Healthy Debate about the recent ruling striking down the “vaccinate-or-mask” policy for nurses.

Get the flu vaccine soon. Flu season is just around the corner. Make sure to protect yourself and the people who you love!

The post Screw the Flu: 4 Reasons to Get Vaccinated appeared first on Talia Zenlea.