It's Flu Season: Are Vaccines Safe?

Friends, 

It's that time of year for annual flu shots for many.  The inevidable arguments about the safety of vaccines can be a wonderful teaching opportunity. I'd like to share two links from the Center for Disease Control. 

This is the adult immunization schedule and here is the recommended childhood vaccines

How would you use these in the classroom? Can these resoruces be used to introduce students to a medical profession? How about teaching students about scientific information? 

I'd love to hear how you teach health literacy topics around flu season and how / if you work with local health based community programs to get students  and their families vaccinated. 

Sincerely, 
Kathy

Comments

Friends, 

I hope this post finds you all well. This is / has been a brutal flu season. I'ld like to continue this conversation about health literacy. 

According to Time, More than 60,000 samples testing positive for influenza have been reported since monitoring for the virus began on Oct. 1, according to the CDC. The flu is widespread in every state in the country except for Hawaii, health officials said. While some are calling this flu season an epidemic, it has not yet hit the devastation of the 2014-2015 year. According to USA Today,  the flu is always dangerous, causing an estimated 9 million to 35 million illnesses, 140,000 to 710,000 hospitalizations and 12,000 to 56,000 deaths in the United States in a typical year, CDC says.

Have you developed any lessons or instruction about vaccines or the flu? What do our students need to know? And how are you addressing this in your program or classroom? 

Sincerely,
Kathy Tracey/
@Kathy_Tracey