Your kindly neighborhood pediatrician may be trying to get you to vaccinate your child this year against the flu virus. Maybe you’re already skeptical about whether the shot does any good for those receiving it, and you may be recoiling in horror as your baby’s doctor tries to inject your infant at just six months old. Such is the disturbing trend popping up by doctors who are a part of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Read on to learn about this organization’s drive to vaccinate babies and children, whether the shot has been proven helpful or not.

Flu Shots: Necessary Evil?

No parent likes to see their baby get shots-the screaming, the crying, the tears of despair over getting stuck with that big, mean needle. Studies have shown in recent years that the flu shot might not be necessary for keeping people healthy, unless the people in question are the elderly and infirmed or the very young and sickly. If you have a child, you may be hearing the AAP’s outcry that children from 6 months of age all the way up to 18 year olds should be required to have an annual flu shot. Well, for helpless babies at 6 months of age, this may have some validity. However, for children and especially teenagers, studies have shown that the flu vaccine only works in about 1% of the studied population. For parents who don’t want any unnecessary drugs injected into their little one’s bodies, this new insistence may raise more than a few hackles.

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