To recognize 2015 National Influenza Vaccination Week, which runs Dec. 6 to Dec. 12, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases has collaborated with the Childhood Influenza Immunization Coalition to stress the importance of educating parents on the benefits of annual flu vaccination.
"Parents often mistake flu for the common cold, but it is a serious respiratory infection that can impact even healthy children," said Carol J. Baker, MD, NFID past-president, CIIC chair and professor of pediatrics, molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. "Vaccination is the best defense available. As healthcare professionals, it is our responsibility to make a strong recommendation for vaccination to protect patients and their families against this serious and sometimes fatal infectious disease."
To help boost education, NFID and CIIC offer educational resources to increase awareness among healthcare professionals and consumers. NFID also recently hosted a webinar focused on effective ways to talk to parents about flu prevention, the archive of which can be found here.
NFID also developed a series of #FightFlu videos featuring medical experts discussing the importance of annual flu vaccination. The videos are available on the NFID YouTube page, here.
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