50% of Surveyed Parents Believe Flu Vaccine Causes Flu

by Emma Williams | November 2, 2018

Does the flu vaccine cause the flu? Over 50% of surveyed parents believe it does. 

A new survey on seven hundred parents in Florida and conducted by the Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital, showed that half of them believed the flu vaccine caused the flu, leaving researchers to understand a little more why parents are hesitant and distrust the shot. 

The flu season began last week and Florida is the first state to report the death of an unvaccinated child from the flu. The child was otherwise healthy, health officials said. More than two-thirds of the 183 children who died around the country from flu last year were also unvaccinated.

“With any medication or vaccine, people are going to have concerns,” Dr. Jean Moorjani, a board-certified pediatrician at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, said in a news release. “Because information can come from so many places, from friends and family to the internet, it’s important to talk to a doctor you trust to get credible information that is based in science and facts.”

The survey also found:

• 30 percent of the respondents thought flu shot is a conspiracy.

• 28 percent said flu caused autism.

“I’m flabbergasted,” William Schaffner, MD, an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “I and many others have been saying for over 20 years that you can’t get the flu from the flu vaccine. I don’t know how to say it any louder. You cannot get the flu from the flu vaccine. That’s a myth.”

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