All the research I’ve done online says that young children should get a seasonal flu shot. Most of those sites assume that the reader lives in an English-speaking Western country. I’ve brought this up with my wife (who is Taiwanese) and she says that the company that produces the seasonal flu shot in Taiwan makes it locally and that the quality is not good. She claims that there are many stories of people getting the shot and developing nasty conditions or dying. I’m naturally skeptical and have heard the nonsense proclaimed by anti-vaxxers back home. I’m am very poorly informed on the state of vaccines produced in Taiwan however and would like to know if anybody knows anything about it.
Since young children are particularly susceptible to the flu, I would prefer if my three-month-old could get the shot, but only as long as there is no risk. I would also have to convince my wife because she doesn’t like the idea. She’s happy with him getting shots for hepatitis and such, but not the seasonal flu shot. Should I be sharing her worries about it or is it just more anti-vaxxer nonsense?
The word-of-mouth horror stories don’t impress me. “My friend’s son got the vaccine and then he died!” That’s really sad, but it doesn’t prove that it was due to the vaccine. I really don’t want to open the entire anti-vaxxer debate here, so I would ask that posters stick to information about the seasonal flu vaccine in Taiwan. Thanks so much, all. I really appreciate it.