所有学校都需要注射流感疫苗的时候到了

所有学校都需要注射流感疫苗的时候到了

The requirement that children receive vaccinations before starting school has come to be accepted by most parents in this country as normal. It is after all, common sense: children are notoriously good at spreading germs.

要求孩子在上学前接种疫苗已经被这个国家的大多数父母视为正常。毕竟，这是常识:众所周知，儿童善于传播细菌。

Vaccinations have become an expected part of the routine checkups that take place in late summer, when parents bring kids to the office for pediatricians to check them, and to check off the boxes on school forms.

接种疫苗已经成为夏末例行检查的一部分，家长们会把孩子带到办公室让儿科医生检查，并在学校表格上的复选框上打勾。

On Wednesday, Massachusetts became the first state to require the flu shot for students K-12 as well as for college students. Outside of Massachusetts, only a handful of states require the flu shot for day care and preschool children under 5 years old.

周三，马萨诸塞州成为第一个要求K-12学生以及大学生接种流感疫苗的州。除了马萨诸塞州，只有少数几个州要求日托和5岁以下学龄前儿童注射流感疫苗。

This year, as the Covid-19 pandemic drags on, the flu season rapidly approaches and schools scramble to ensure safe learning environments, we badly need children of all ages in all states across the country to get the flu shot.

今年，随着Covid-19流行病的持续，流感季节迅速临近，学校争相确保安全的学习环境，我们迫切需要全国所有州的所有年龄的儿童接种流感疫苗。

While it is true that children under 5 are most vulnerable to severe illness and death from the flu, the influenza virus does not stop infecting children simply because they have turned a certain age.

虽然5岁以下的儿童确实最容易因流感而患上严重疾病和死亡，但流感病毒不会仅仅因为儿童到了一定年龄就停止感染他们。

During the 2018-2019 flu season for example, more than seven million kids and teens ages 5 to 17 were symptomatic from the flu, 21,000 required hospitalization and 211 died. This compared to more than three million kids under 5 who were symptomatic, of whom 25,000 required hospitalization and 266 died, according to the CDC.

例如，在2018-2019年流感季节，超过700万5至17岁的儿童和青少年出现流感症状，2.1万人需要住院治疗，211人死亡。相比之下，根据CDC的数据，有超过300万5岁以下的儿童出现症状，其中2.5万人需要住院治疗，266人死亡。

It is precisely because the influenza virus can cause serious, life-threatening illness in 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 six months receive the flu shot every year.

正因为流感病毒可以对儿童和各年龄段的成年人造成严重的、危及生命的疾病，美国儿科学会和美国疾病控制和预防中心建议每个6个月以上的人每年都要注射流感疫苗。

This winter, our country simply cannot afford to have thousands of children infected with and hospitalized for influenza. Our already strained health care system, school system and communities will not be able to accommodate both the flu and Covid-19. The time has come for schools across the country to require the flu vaccine for children of all ages.

今年冬天，我们的国家根本承受不住让成千上万的儿童感染流感并住院治疗。我们已经紧张的卫生保健系统、学校系统和社区将无法同时容纳流感和Covid-19。是时候让全国的学校要求所有年龄段的孩子接种流感疫苗了。

Now to be clear, the flu shot is not perfect. The vaccine can be 40-60% effective at preventing infection. But what is often less discussed is that even when the person exposed to the virus contracts influenza, having received the vaccine can significantly reduce the risk of complications from the illness, namely hospitalization, ICU stay and death.

现在需要明确的是，流感疫苗并不完美。疫苗预防感染的有效性可达40-60%。但很少有人讨论的是，即使接触病毒的人感染了流感，接种疫苗也可以显著降低疾病并发症的风险，即住院、住ICU和死亡。

Despite this data, schools have historically fallen short in requiring the flu shot, leaving parents to think that although recommended, the flu shot is not necessary. I have heard it over and over again in my office: If the flu shot was really necessary, schools would surely require it. Close to 40% of all children went without a flu vaccine in the 2018-2019 season.

尽管有这样的数据，学校在要求接种流感疫苗方面一直做得不够，这让家长们认为，尽管建议接种流感疫苗，但没有必要。我在办公室里听过一遍又一遍:如果流感疫苗真的有必要，学校肯定会要求接种。2018-2019年的流感季节，近40%的儿童没有接种流感疫苗。

In addition to the flu, vaccination rates for other diseases have also improved. In DC for example, one of the few places requiring the HPV vaccine for school, 78% of kids ages 13 to 17 have been vaccinated against HPV, compared to 49% of kids nationwide.

除了流感，其他疾病的疫苗接种率也有所提高。例如，华盛顿是少数几个要求学校接种HPV疫苗的地方之一，13至17岁的儿童中有78%接种了HPV疫苗，而全国的这一比例为49%。

With a mandate for all ages, schools have the opportunity to send a clear message to parents that the flu vaccine is not only recommended, it is more important than ever.

通过对所有年龄层的强制要求，学校有机会向家长传达一个明确的信息:流感疫苗不仅是建议的，而且比以往任何时候都更重要。