Tuesday, October 11, 2005

School Shooting

Kid Power - Let's use it to fight the flu. By David Dobbs

Today I'm advocating school shootings. No, not that kind! The kind where they shoot a nasal spray into children that vaccinates them against flu. Studies have shown that such a program would reduce the rate of flu infection each winter by a very substantial amount, as children are the perfect conduit for flu. (My personal experience confirms this; every case of flu I've gotten has resulted from either personal contact with an infected child or with that child's flu-infested parents.)

It makes great sense, really. Flu vaccine is a lot cheaper tham all the missed work that results from each year's flu breakout, not to mention the human cost of illness and the tens of thousands of flu deaths each year among the elderly. And besides being the main flu conduit, kids are uniquely situated for state-sponsored vaccination. What other age group spends five of seven days in a government institution?

David Dobbs lays out plenty of other compelling reasons why this is an idea whose time has come. The article is well worth reading.

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