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David Fisher, MD, MPH: This Week's Health Headlines

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Sunday, July 26, 2009

This Week's Health Headlines

Active children go to sleep faster
CDC: All children should get the regular flu vaccine this fall
Up to one in four Americans could get swine flu
Six lifestyle changes that reduce men's risk of heart failure
Obesity rate for preschoolers holds steady at one in seven

2 comments:

Christine said...

I've never had my children vaccinated before....have the Fishers? What will you do this year?

David Fisher, MD, MPH said...

Thanks for asking- we do have our children vaccinated. If possible, I plan to have them receive the regular flu and the H1N1 flu vaccines this year. My reasoning is this: assuming the vaccine prevents the illness, I weigh the chances of getting the illness against the chances of having an adverse reaction to the vaccine. In most cases, the chance of getting the illness far outweighs the risk of an adverse reaction. Therefore, we usually give the vaccine. We've refused, for example, the hepatitis B vaccine, because the chances of the children contracting hepatits B is essentially zero (it is contracted via blood products or sexually). So, even though the risk for an adverse reaction to the vaccine is small, it is still greater than their zero risk of getting the disease.