YONKERS, N.Y. — Parents agree: Making sure kids wash hands and eat right is very important for keeping them healthy during swine-flu season. Getting vaccinated? Not so much.
According to a Consumer Reports survey, 41 percent of parents said they would definitely have their child vaccinated for the seasonal flu, and 22 percent said they definitely would not. For swine flu, only 35 percent said they would definitely try to get their child vaccinated, 14 percent definitely would not, and half said “it will depend.”
But 57 percent of parents still were concerned about their child getting sick with swine flu.
The swine-flu vaccines are new, but they are made the same way as regular seasonal flu vaccine, which has minor side effects. Regulators found no safety issues in studies of several thousand people.
The Centers for Disease Control says the vaccine’s effectiveness varies, depending on the age and health of the person receiving it, and the similarity between the virus in the vaccine and the viruses striking people ill.
Of those parents who were unsure about the swine-flu vaccine for their children or didn’t plan to get it for them, 65 percent said they were concerned about the newness of the vaccine.
Those surveyed noted techniques other than vaccination as “very important” for keeping kids healthy during flu season:
* 92 percent cited frequent hand-washing.
* 89 percent mentioned healthful eating.
* 83 percent cited adequate sleep and rest.
* 68 percent noted avoidance of sick kids
Meanwhile, 41 percent said it was “very important” to have children vaccinated for flu.
Respondents were polled Sept. 2-7, with 1,502 interviews completed via random-digit dialing of cell phones and landlines. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
