By IRN/Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – Somewhere between back-to-school and holiday preparations is this: get a flu shot.
Illinois Department of Public Health director Dr. Nirav Shah says the flu “is a severe illness; many thousands of folks die from the flu every year. We have a great solution, a prevention tool – a very good vaccine. We encourage everyone (age six months and older) to get the flu vaccine.”
Shah cautions against brushing off the flu as “just a cold” if you have chills and/or aches. He also says the vaccine is available in nasal form if you fear the needle. He also says not to buy into the myths. “The flu vaccine does not cause the flu at all,” he says. “The flu vaccine is made of little parts of the virus of the flu, not the whole virus at all. It has no capability or potential to cause the flu.”
How about autism?
“What the science shows is that there is no connection whatsoever between any vaccine and autism, the flu vaccine included.”
IDPH says the nation has more than 170 million doses, the largest flu vaccine supply ever.
