Free or reduced-priced flu shots will better protect kids
Flu season is upon us and we all know what that means: runny noses, coughing, and fevers. Children are hugely affected by the flu. One child gets sick and then before you know it, they have passed the flu on to their whole class. Schools can be hotbeds for the spread of illness. Kids miss class because of the flu. Parents miss work because they have to take care of sick kids. So not only are children missing out on their education, parents also have to take time off work to care for them. This is particularly damaging for parents who do not have paid time-off from work.
So why are so few kids getting flu shots? Sure, flu shots are not always effective, but that does not mean we should disregard them. Perhaps if flu shots were more affordable, more kids would get them. At Walgreens, flu shots are going for $25. I can hardly fit that into my graduate student budget. I cannot even imagine if I had three kids and needed flu shots for the whole family! The same programs that provide funds for kids to get the required immunizations for school should also provide funds for flu shots. We need to keep kids healthy and keep them in school.
Katie Kupfer
University City
Katie Kupfer:
“So why are so few kids getting flu shots? Sure, flu shots are not always effective, but that does not mean we should disregard them. Perhaps if flu shots were more affordable, more kids would get them.”
The same government that messed up giving money away in Cash for Clunkers and wants to handle all the healthcare, has managed to produce only about 20 percent of the required flu shots. They’re making Hurricane Katrina efforts look like the mechanism of a fine Swiss watch.
Is that all you liberals do is whine? How about blaming the parents instead of blaming everyone else. Where is all this “FREE” stuff coming from? Why dont we just send nurses door to door and then the kids will get the shots. For some reason I have a feeling that when the nurses would show up then the parents wouldnt be home. Then what? Perhaps if they attach a check with the shot sd sn incentive then you could guarantee that everyone would be there and then some!
superdave: Where is all this “FREE” stuff coming from?
Speaking of “FREE.” I noticed Super Dave is asking for donations to keep his radio show afloat. Maybe all of you rebels with a cause could help out a fellow Tea Party Patriot with some “FREE” money. He has claimed to be very well off financially, but I guess he doesn’t want to invest his own money in his business venture. So pull out those checkbooks Patriots!
Yes, lets have free flu shots, along with free “Messiahcare”, free food, free housing, free gubermint cars, and free gas.
Why should the consumer expect to pay for anything when the Gubermint can supply it for FREE? Only from a lib.
Icon said “The same government that messed up giving money away in Cash for Clunkers and wants to handle all the healthcare, has managed to produce only about 20 percent of the required flu shots.”
Take note it is private industry producing the shots and not the government, the government gave them the requirements and distributes it afterwords. The expected production rate was announced after consulting with the private manufacturer. So it was the private industry that is not producing it at the expected rate.
Superdave,
It’s good that you’ve pointed out the true evil in all of this ‘free’ public health that the Obama admin is trying to shove down our throats. School children, the disabled, the elderly, the poor, don’t deserve the vaccine. It, rightly, went to the good people at AIG and Bear Stearns, first. How much did they have to pay? Wait a minute, we bailed them out, so we’re paying for their Vaccine.
So why are so few kids getting flu shots?
I don’t know, maybe it’s because their parents read the Mayo Clinic’s study regarding flu shots:
http://stanford.wellsphere.com/parenting-article/the-flu-shot-kids-who-get-it-are-more-likely-to-be-hospitalized/682458
One reason young children are not getting H1N1 shots is the same reason their grandparents and great grandparents are not getting seasonal flu shots–the vaccine is “out of stock”.
People are ranting about free flu shots. I do not remember what the shot was for, at the time I was only 5, I am going to guess it was for polio. I remember the health department coming in to school and marching us down to the cafeteria and giving us all FREE shots. This government run program evidently worked because Polio was eliminated, I also have never read anything about people, whether liberal or conservative, screaming about government handouts. On reflection I knew kids whose parents were conservative and yet they took the government FREE shots.
Lisa,
Here is the government at work that you want to take over health care and continue to tell us all that they are going to save us all money.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/6CE3C9F8C6A1F3A68625766F000F0158?OpenDocument
A couple of other things do not add up. We are continually told this is such a huge issue and we must act know. Why then if this is past, the public option will not start until 2013?
In the first 10 years the numbers indicate that we may be break even on this whole mess. What no one is talking about on your side is how to sustain the public option after that. In the first ten years, we have 10 years of taxes and costs, but, only 6-7 years of coverage. Why is this? How can we continue this? The answer is we can not.