Flu shot reactions vs side effects

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I am not a public health nurse but I am intested in becoming one so I did participate in a flu shot clinic. We asked people to wait 15 minutes after to observe for reactions.

One young woman came with her 6 month old, who had no previous reactions to a vaccine. The baby was angry ( understandibly) but within 5 minutes she was very flushed in the cheeks, the needle was in her leg.

The other nurse there was not concerned but would this have been considered a reaction or not? The baby didn't have any trouble breathing so seem otherwise distressed.

I have never seen this happen with my own kids so my question is this, is this considered a vaccine reaction, a side effect from getting the needle or some random occurance?

Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

Hard to know, exactly. The timing does seem to make it related to the vaccine, but it seems to be a soft call either way.

I will say, only anecdotally, that my daughter got her flu vax at 6mo this year too, and was very flushed and feverish for a couple days afterward. I didn't bother taking her temp because I didn't want to know - she was that hot. She did get it in conjunction with a couple other vaccines, but she had previously gotten those same vaxes and done fine, so I do believe the flu shot (or the combo of the others + flu) did it.

Flushing of the face is considered a sign of an immediate hypersensitivity reaction to vaccination, although it may be due to another cause. I would have looked for other s/sx of pending anaphylaxis, such as dyspnea, wheezing, swelling of lips/tongue/throat/face, hypotension, etc. It sounds like they did. I also would have, at a minimum, observed the infant closely for another 15-20 minutes and pulled a clinician in for obeservation if one was available. I hope the mother was told to watch for signs of adverse reactions and call her provider or dial 911 if they occur after she leaves. I would also tell her to inform future providers of the reaction prior to receiving future vaccinations, since subsequent exposure to the allergen may produce a more exaggerated response. I usually submit a VAERS report with weird situations like this, although I'm not sure if this would fall under the category of adverse reaction or not. I would leave it to VAERS to decide.

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