Doctors in the state of Illinois are asking parents to get flu shots for their children

Illinois health officials are asking parents to get their children vaccinated against the flu, which is on the rise in the Chicago area and threatens to further stretch already strained children’s hospitals.

“We expect the number of children needing treatment for these viruses to increase significantly over the next few weeks,” said Dr. Larry Kacholek, medical director of the division of infection prevention and control at Lurie Children’s, noting respiratory illness and flu in the news. conference on Thursday. “It worries us. This worries parents. … But there is hope. We can prevent many of these infections.”

Thanks earlier than usual outbreaks of RSVwhich stands for respiratory syncytial virus, and other respiratory diseases. These surges led to waits longer for an ambulanceoccasionally delayed surgeries and difficulty transferring pediatric patients from one hospital to another.

As of Thursday morning, only about 9% of pediatric intensive care units in Illinois were available, down from just 4% earlier this week, said Dr. Sameer Vohra, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

“Even in the worst moments of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have not seen anything like this. In fact, we have never gone below 50% in our (ICU) capacity,” Vohra said. “The current surge we are seeing is putting a significant strain on our hospital systems. This means that in some cases, children who need resuscitation have to wait for emergency room beds to open up, hospital beds to open up, and often long distances to be transported.”

Hospital understaffing has worsened the situation, with some hospitals unable to use all their beds due to a lack of sufficient nurses.

Flu activity is on the rise in Chicago right now, according to the Chicago Health Department. The percentage of emergency room visits for flu-like illnesses is already higher than it was at this time in 2019. Some are predicting that the flu season could be severe, based on the recent flu season in the Southern Hemisphere.

“We haven’t seen enough Chicagoans take advantage of this tool to protect themselves and others,” said Dr. Jennifer Seo, chief medical officer of the Chicago Department of Public Health, about flu vaccines and COVID-19.

As of Nov. 10, about 1.5 million of the more than 12.5 million Illinois residents have received a dose of the new Bivalent accelerators of COVID-19, which are aimed at protecting against COVID-19 in general and the omicron variant. Bivalent accelerators are approved for people 5 years of age and older.

Children aged 6 months and older are recommended to get a flu shot every year. Although most children who contract the flu, RSV and other respiratory illnesses will have relatively mild cases and can recover at home, tens of thousands of children nationwide must be hospitalized and hundreds die each year, Kacholek said.

Flu vaccines can reduce the risk of children dying or needing hospitalization from the illness, said Dr. John Cunningham, chief medical officer at Children’s Hospital of Chicago Medical Center.

“If your children or you are unvaccinated or unvaccinated, don’t wait any longer,” Vohra said. “Make arrangements now for your children to receive both vaccinations.”

Parents should vaccinate their children to protect them and prevent hospitals from becoming overcrowded, Auld said. Brian Hopkins, 2nd. Local doctors say they are seeing signs that RSV may be abating, but the flu is just getting started.

“When the agencies that protect us and the professionals who work for them ask for help, you heed the call,” Hopkins said. “They are asking for help now. The system is under enormous stress and strain and it is not sustainable.”

When children are sick, parents can turn to pediatricians for help. If parents can’t get to their pediatrician’s office quickly or symptoms seem to be getting worse, they may want to go to the emergency room, said Dr. Andrew Kreppel, associate chief of clinical affairs at UI Health’s pediatrics department.

“If it looks like they’re really struggling to breathe, or acting out, or anything that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end, take them to the emergency room,” Kreppel said.