EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: “Unfortunately this year, we’re seeing a much larger outbreak of Influenza (flu), compared to any other year since I’ve been in practice”, said Lakewood’s leading Pediatrician Doctor Reuven Shanik in an exlcusive video interview with TLS.
The Doctor’s office has been swamped with hundreds of patients over the last few weeks with people seeking to get shots against the flu – which hit much earlier this year.
“It’s sometimes hard to keep up with the flow, because the outbreak is really quite extensive this year”, says Dr. Shanik.
Dr. Shanik says the flu outbreak this year started about a month ago – earlier than usual. The flu season doesn’t usually start until mid-January and peaks end of January into February. This year, he began seeing cases of flu in early December.
“It’s quite rampant in our community – we had over 1,000 cases of flu just in our practice alone”, says Dr. Shanik. “Last year, we saw maybe 100 case of flue the whole Winter”, says Shanik. Though, the flu is milder this year, comapred to last year.
The Doctor says he recommends the flu shot for all children ages 6 months and up. People with chronic illnesses, immune problems or pregnant women, are even more prone to the flu, and are therefore encouraged to get the flu shot, says Shanik.
The demand for shots is so great this year, says Dr. Shanik, that the State, as well as his office, are running out of vaccines at times.
In regards to those hesitant to get the shot in fears of making things worse, says, Dr. Shanik, “after one dose it has maybe a 80% success rate, and two doses maybe an 85-90% success rate.”
But other things also contrbute in preventing the flu.
“Proper hand washing, proper bed time, proper diet” help prevent the flu as well, Shanik says. TLS.
It cant be stressed enough to all Lakewoods parents that when your children chas v’shalom start displaying symptoms of illness to keep them home from school/playgroup/babysitter. This will help tremendously in keeping the flu from spreading to other people.
So overall more people than ever are getting the vaccine and overall more people than ever are getting the flu! Keep those flu shot lines moving, very smart
This whole new movement of parents not vaccinating their children is really causing harm to many other children, that’s besides to their own children who can end up suffering one day from a sickness with deadly results. This mishugass is just amazing, and I am just at how many sick parents there are out there who withhold from their children sick urgent necessities.
Once flu comes into your house should you still take fle shot or is it to late
there should be a separate waiting room for those wihth symptoms of flu. all those thousand patients waiting in teh same room as other children, sometimes for a lengthy amount of time, doesn’t help in preventing to get the flu.
So interesting that errbody is running to get the flu shot but the outbreak is so large this year.
I would recommend that the local pediatricians offices are extra to prevent the spread of flu and various viruses
The one time I got the flu was last year, the one time I took the flu shot was last year.
In Minneapolis a Jewish girl 14 years old was niftera today from the flu.
Not only children should stay home from school when they are sick. Adults should also try very hard to stay home. I’ve seen adults who look very sick and complain of fever out in public. Please be considerate of others!
interesting. the one year i DIDNT get the flu was the one year i got the flu shot. just because youre against shots, you cant make a deduction from one person. and hey, btw im not autistic and im up-to-date on all my shots
i also got the the flu shot and so did my kids and we all got flu this season.
I hope everyone realizes that flu shots are smart.
To those parents who are thinking about not getting the flu shot for their kids, but instead looking at a “homeopathic flu vaccine”, I want to provide a brief overview on what homeopathy is, since they wont tell you think.
The idea behind homeopathy is that the more you water down something, the stronger it gets.
What they do is take a vial of water. They add one drop of the herb or natural remedy and shake. So you have 1 drop of medicine in a vial of water. THEN they take one drop of that mixture, and add it to a second vial of water and shake. Then they take one drop of that vial, add to another vial of water, shake. They keep doing this 30-60 times. It reaches a point where there is not a single molecule of the original “medicine” in the water and that is what they give you. What they claim is that the water has a “memory” of the original medicine it came in contact with 40 “shakes” ago, something that is utter nonsense. In fact, the dilution from 50 consecutive shakes is so small, it would take all the water on the entire planet earth to contain one molecule of that medicine.
Please make a wise choice based on your doctors input, but please DO NOT chose quackery medicine and think it will offer you or your children ANY protection.
By the way, what I am talking about is Homeopathic medicine. That is very different than Naturopathy, which uses natural herbs/plants in normal doses, which can help with many illnesses.. example, the aloe leaf helps with rashes, etc.
What does not getting the flu vaccine have to do with homeopathy. Did you consider that people that don’t get the flu shot rely on the brilliantly designed (by the premier scientist, I might add) immune system that is embedded in each and every one of us.
For your average person, that does not have any medical or health conditions, the flu is an uncomfortable nusiuance for a about a weeks time. If someone is taken ill with the flu they need to be smart about taking care of themselves so the immune system can operate as efficiently as possible (eating right, sleeping, vitamins). If you abuse your body and ignore when you are sick you definitely have a problem.
One of the biggest issues with the pro-vaccine camp is that they fail to differentiate between vaccines that prevent legitimate life threatening or life altering illnesses (think polio) and something as common and not nearly as serious as chicken pox or flu.
I understand that some people lo aleinu suffer severe and sometimes fatal complications from the flu, and would think in some instances that the flu shot is warranted. But that decision should be made on a case by case basis. Medical treatment is not one size fits all it needs to be customized – this is Aleph Bais. What other medical treatment is given across the board to every patient that walks through the doctors door, without analyzing the patients risk factors for adverse reaction to the treatment? Like it or not there are adverse reactions to vaccines and there are risk factors associated with these adverse reactions. In english that means there are certain factors that when present result in a higher risk for a severe adverse reaction to a vaccine (read the vaccine pamphlet published by the drug company for this information). When was the last time a doctor analyzed a patient for the presence of these risk factors prior to administering a vaccine? And when was the last time the doctor gave you a copy of the drug insert that comes with the vaccine (published by the drug company) to inform you of potential risk factors and side affects. The drug company’s recognize that there are adverse reactions to vaccines that point is not debated. The longstanding debate between the educated and knowledgeable anti vaccine and pro vaccine camps is the percentage of adverse reactions.
Every time I use a homeopathic remedy it always helps and I have never had the flu, never had a flu shot and I’ll continue to do what I always have done to stay healthy which is frequent hand washing, taking vitamins and herbal products, using homeopathic remedies etc. And I advise my kids to do the same. To each his own and may everyone stay well.
Like they say about Rebbes if you think you don’t need one then you are an apikores, but if you believe every mayseh your a fool. Traditional medicine shouldn’t don’t discount alternate healing (healthy living, therapies, chiropractors, accupuncture etc all have theri place and do help people) and alternative health people don’t be foolish enough to believe that all the lifesaving drugs, vaccines and surgical procedures are one big conspiracy to make money. The field of Medicine is thousands of years old and has worked. V’ish yaaseh k’sihclo.
14 says:
“Like it or not there are adverse reactions to vaccines and there are risk factors associated with these adverse reactions. In english that means there are certain factors that when present result in a higher risk for a severe adverse reaction to a vaccine (read the vaccine pamphlet published by the drug company for this information). When was the last time a doctor analyzed a patient for the presence of these risk factors prior to administering a vaccine?”
This makes me laugh. How in the world should we evaluate for this?
You’re living in utopia. Not every human is the same and therefore we have no way of knowing what anyone’s reaction could be.
“And when was the last time the doctor gave you a copy of the drug insert that comes with the vaccine (published by the drug company) to inform you of potential risk factors and side affects. The drug company’s recognize that there are adverse reactions to vaccines that point is not debated.”
This they should do. It’s called informed consent.
I am still appalled at the number of sick children being shlepped shopping with their mothers today. If your child is sick, put in a food order for delivery and stay home!!! Dont be a mazik!
I’m not sure why receiving the flu shot this year would prevent you from getting the flu, if the circulating flu doesn’t even match the strain in the vaccine!!! could profits be the reason they push for the vaccine?