When schools say, 'the flu shot is not required', parents hear, 'it's not necessary.' Nothing is further from the truth

學校：“流感疫苗不是必須接種的”，家長們：“流感疫苗是沒有必要的”。實際情況遠非如此。

Editor's Note: Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez is a primary care pediatrician and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

編者注：Edith Bracho-Sanchez 博士是一名兒科初級保健醫生，以及哥倫比亞大學歐文醫學中心助理教授。

(CNN)The concerning scenario has played out in my office over and over again this season. "Your child is due for the flu vaccine today" is interrupted by, "Oh, no, doctor -- we don't like to put unnecessary things in their body."

(CNN)最近這種令人擔憂的場景一次又一次的在我的辦公室中上演。“您孩子今天該注射流感疫苗了”常常被家長的“哦，不用了醫生，我們不想給孩子注射太多沒用的東西。”

The argument comes from parents who vaccinated their children against the flu at ages 1, 2, 3 and 4; parents of children who tolerated the vaccine well, who did not contract the flu, and yet at age 5 the flu shot suddenly became "unnecessary." I'm even hearing it from parents of siblings. For the child under age 5, parents agree to the flu shot; for the child over age 5, they decline it.

這類說法往往來自于那些給孩子1至4歲都注射了流感疫苗的家長口中；這些家長原本十分愿意給孩子注射疫苗，孩子在注射疫苗后也沒有感染過流感，但是當孩子滿5歲后卻突然開始認為流感疫苗是“沒用的”。我甚至見過家中有幾個孩子的家長也持有同樣的觀點。對于5歲以下的孩子，家長同意接受流感疫苗注射；但對于5歲以上的孩子，家長卻往往不同意。

So, what changes at this magical age of 5? Schools in New York City, where I practice, stop requiring the flu shot. "Not required" has translated into "not necessary."

所以在5歲這個充滿了魔力的年紀上究竟發生了什么？我針對紐約市的學校進行了研究，這些學校不強制5歲以上的孩子注射疫苗。“非強制的”卻被解讀成了“沒用的”。

As dangerous as this misconception is, it's hard to blame parents when their reasoning is, after all, very logical: If the flu shot was truly necessary, wouldn't schools require it, like they require so many other childhood vaccinations? Not exactly.

雖然這種誤解是非常危險的，但我們卻很難指責這些家長們，因為他們的想法也是十分符合邏輯的：如果流感疫苗的確有效，那么學校為什么不強制所有的學生都注射呢，就像其它許多強制兒童注射的疫苗那樣？因此流感疫苗并非那樣的有效。

In the United States, vaccine requirement laws are set by each state. Currently only a handful of states, New York included, require children to be vaccinated against the flu to enter daycare or pre-K. It is therefore not surprising that when researchers recently looked at the number of daycare centers around the country that required children to be vaccinated against the flu, they found only 24.5% did so. And once children turn 5, right as they enter elementary school, the flu shot requirement in these handful of states goes away altogether.

在美國，規定疫苗注射的條例都是由各州自行制定的。目前只有一部分州，包括紐約在內，要求孩子在進入日托以及學前班之前必須接受流感疫苗注射。正因如此，在研究人員最近的統計中發現，在全國范圍內只有24.5%的日托要求兒童在入學之前必須接種流感疫苗。當孩子滿5歲開始上小學后，那幾個為數不多的強制日托兒童接種流感疫苗的州也并沒有強制小學兒童注射流感疫苗的規定。

To be clear, children are not all of a sudden immune to the flu and its serious complications just because they've turned 5. The influenza virus simply does not work that way. It is precisely because the influenza virus can cause a serious, life-threatening illness to children and adults of all ages that both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend everyone over the age of 6 months receive the flu shot every year. Although not perfect, the flu shot is the best way to protect ourselves and our loved ones from the flu and its complications.

這里需要明確的一點是，兒童并不會因為滿5歲就突然產生了可以對抗流感及其一系列嚴重并發癥的免疫力。流感病毒的致病原理并非如此。流感病毒能導致兒童以及任何年齡段的成人產生一系列嚴重且致命的病癥，因此美國兒科學會和美國疾病控制與預防中心都建議所有6個月以上的兒童及成人每年接種流感疫苗。雖然流感疫苗不是完美無缺的，但目前它依然是保護我們自己以及我們所愛的人遠離流感的最好的方法。

But in my office, school requirements are far more powerful than official recommendations from organizations with no tangible role in families' lives. Even things like the severity of the flu season, or the effectiveness of the vaccine, were recently found by my colleague Dr. Melissa Stockwell and her team at Columbia University not to make a difference in whether parents chose to vaccinate their children.

在我看來，相較于在家庭中并不扮演任何角色的官方機構的建議，學校的規定則明顯具有更高的效力。我的同事Melissa Stockwell博士及其在哥倫比亞大學的研究團隊最近發現，即使像流感爆發的嚴重程度或疫苗的有效性這樣的信息都不會對家長是否要給他們的孩子接種流感疫苗產生多大的影響。

The way parents in my practice erroneously perceive the flu shot as an "optional" and therefore "unnecessary" vaccine may also reflect the way many adults across this country think of the shot: as some luxury item that somebody else, but not me, needs. The misconception comes on top of so many others around the flu shot -- for example, the flu shot causing the flu. Spoiler alert: It does not.

在我的研究中家長們所持的這種認為流感疫苗是“可選的”，因此是“無用的”錯誤想法，同樣可以反映出國內許多成年人對疫苗所持的看法：這是屬于別人的，但不是我所需要的，一種奢侈的東西。這種錯誤的想法往往與許多其它對流感疫苗的誤解一同流傳著 -- 比如，流感疫苗會引起流感。謠言警告：流感疫苗不會導致流感。

It is no surprise, then, that in a recent survey only half of Americans said they intended to get vaccinated this season and only 63% of children 6 months to 17 years old got vaccinated last season, according to the CDC.

因此當疾控中心發布的最新調查結果顯示只有半數的美國人表示他們在這個流感流行季準備接種疫苗，以及僅有63%的6個月至17歲兒童在上一個流感爆發季接種了疫苗時，我們并不感到意外。

The agency says more than 3 million people around the country have already contracted the flu this season, 32,000 people have been hospitalized and 1,800 people have died.

數據顯示，在這個流感季節中，全國范圍內已有超過三百萬人感染了流感，三千二百萬人住院治療，而一千八百人因此死亡。

When it comes to the flu, we don't have the luxury of agreeing to disagree. Time is ticking. Whether or not schools and jobs require it, the flu shot is indeed necessary if we are to protect ourselves and our loved ones from the illness.

面對流感，我們不能在不同意面前屈服。時間一分一秒的在流逝。無論學校或是工作單位是否強制接種疫苗，它的確是我們保護自己以及所愛的人遠離流感的必要手段。

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 文章來源：CNN