An astute Dadwagon reader pointed out that my defense of needles didn’t really go into why nasal flu spray wasn’t an option for my kids. So, yes, FluMist is painless, but it’s not for kids under two (so my boy is too young), and it’s not for anyone with wheezing or asthma. I don’t know that the girl has asthma, but like any good New Yorker, she’s a bit of a wheezer. So FluMist is out.
It’s also not for anyone with egg allergies, or people who don’t like the fact that the nasal spray uses live virus (as opposed to the syringe version, which uses dead virus). I don’t think there’s much difference.
Okay, that’s all I’m going to say about shots, at least until I go public with my claim that Rubella vaccines cause not only autism but also priapism and Libertarianism.