A new study by C.S. Mott Children's Hospital revealed that 34 percent of parents in the United States say they don't plan to vaccinate their children against the flu this season.
About 2,000 parents answered the online poll in October. The top three reasons parents gave for not getting their children a flu shot are concerns about side effects, that the shot doesn't work very well, and they say their healthy child does not need to be vaccinated.
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"We don't give the flu vaccine the credit it deserves," said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 179 children died from the flu last season and 80 percent of the children who died were unvaccinated. Hundreds were also hospitalized with flu-like symptoms.
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Dr. Schaffner said some of the other reasons parents give for not vaccinating their children include being too busy and not getting strong recommendations from their medical providers.