Coralie Metcalfe used to think the flu was no big deal. ?I never got my flu shot. I?m totally pro-vaccine, but I just never thought I needed it,? she explains.
That changed after what happened two years ago when she went to wake her 15-month-old daughter, Annie, for daycare. Annie was pale, her breathing was shallow and she wasn?t moving. Metcalfe got her up but couldn?t keep her awake?Annie kept passing out in her arms. They rushed to the emergency room, where doctors found she was having serious trouble breathing and her heart was working so hard to compensate that her heart rate was high as well. ?I was hysterical,? Metcalfe says.
Doctors would later tell Metcalfe that what she?and her paediatrician?had thought was just a bad cold was, in fact, the flu, and it had turned into pneumonia almost overnight. Metcalfe was filled with self-blame. She actually had been planning to get her daughter the flu shot that year, but it was mid-December, and it just hadn?t happened yet. The appointment was booked for three days later. Many people think of the flu as a bad cold rather than something that could cause a hospital visit. In fact, a third of Canadians report that they won?t get the flu shot this year?and even fewer kids do. Many people say that?s because they think the flu just isn?t that bad.
But while they might be rare, serious complications from the flu do happen, and children are especially vulnerable. Last year, at least 1,350 kids age 16 and younger were hospitalize...