One thing worth scheduling for your kid: a flu shot

Date published: 10/8/2006

IKNOW IT'S A LITTLE EARLY to think about trick-or-treating, but since I won't have another column before then, I wanted to include a link to the American Academy of Pediatrics' health recommendations for Halloween: aap.org/advo cacy/releases/octhalloween .htm.

Most of it is common sense, like not letting kids wear a mask they can't see out of, teaching them not to go into a stranger's home, sorting through candy before they eat it. (I tell my kids this is for safety reasons, but it's really so I can get all the stuff I like best out before they see it. I like to think of it as my way of fighting the childhood obesity epidemic.) Despite many an urban legend, candy tampering is rare. But be cautious about the neighbors who give out bags of spinach salad.

Now is not too early to think about the flu shot. In fact, you should be scheduling it as soon as possible for your whole family if you have a child who falls into a high-risk group. The high-risk group keeps expanding, so that now you are practically a hermit living on a desert island if you don't fall into the high-risk--or exposed-to-high-risk--group.

The highest-risk groups--the people who should receive the vaccine first--are kids ages 6 months to 24 months, anyone with a chronic illness (especially respiratory illnesses like asthma), people in nursing homes or long-term-care facilities, and people 65 and over.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recommend vaccinating all healthy kids up to age 5. This is new this year, and probably will not be completely phased in until more of the vaccine is available.

People ages 50 to 64 are also a priority, but they are not as high-risk as the first group.

Close contacts of all the high-risk people are supposed to be vaccinated as well. These include all health care workers, day care providers, staffs of nursing homes and long-term-care facilities, and all family members who live with any high-risk person. This especially applies to family members of babies under 6 months of age, since babies can't receive the vaccine yet and are at very high risk of complications.

DR. ROXANNE ALLEGRETTI is a pediatrician with Preferred Pediatrics in Fredericksburg.

Date published: 10/8/2006