Dr. Henry Eikel - Pediatric Group of Acadiana

01/21/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DCYCpeJ91/

Gen X and younger generations in the developed world are medically spoiled - and that’s a good thing. Most of us grew up without losing siblings or classmates to smallpox, measles, polio, tuberculosis, scarlet fever, or flu. But our parents and grandparents did.

I only recently learned that my father had a brother who died before his first birthday from a febrile infectious illness. My mother lost a classmate to polio in primary school. She studied alongside a man blinded by measles in childhood and a woman who lost her hearing the same way.

My grandfather’s older brother died as an infant during an influenza outbreak.

That history is why families used to have many children: statistically, many would not survive.

In 1800, nearly half of all children died before the age of five.

By 2020, that figure had fallen to a tiny fraction. Improved sanitation and nutrition played a role. Advances in medicine played a role. But vaccines played the greatest role.

Are vaccines completely risk-free? No. But neither is crossing the road; but we still do it every day, because the benefit far outweighs the risk.

No medical treatment is 100% safe: not aspirin, not antibiotics, not surgery.

That’s why vaccines come with detailed safety data based on studies involving thousands of people. Most side effects are mild-fever, headache, fatigue, rash.

Serious reactions are rare.

And the evidence is overwhelming: vaccines are far safer than the diseases they prevent.

I work in a hospital and receive multiple vaccines regularly. As a child, I had the full routine schedule available at the time: MMR, Hepatitis B, DTP, and polio. There was no chickenpox vaccine then, so I caught it at age six. The doctor said I was lucky-it’s far more dangerous in adults; but it didn’t feel lucky.

I was feverish, miserable, and unbearably itchy. I recovered, but I would never wish that experience on a child, let alone the far more devastating illnesses vaccines now prevent.

Except we desire to return to the era where children barely survive childhood due to preventable diseases, we must get them vaccinated.

01/19/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1bCHs43o1j/

01/16/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BhTewRsvi/

Attention Medicaid Members:

The UnitedHealthcare health plan will not be available to Medicaid members beginning April 1, 2026. If UnitedHealthcare is your current plan, you will need to move to a new health plan before that date.

Current UnitedHealthcare members will have a special enrollment period from January 15, 2026, to February 15, 2026. This special enrollment period is only available to UnitedHealthcare members.

LEARN MORE: https://www.ldh.la.gov/medicaid/medicaid2026

01/14/2026

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The CDC's decision to not recommend the rotavirus vaccine will increase hospitalizations and deaths from the virus.

01/11/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/1CziMxk8ut/?mibextid=wwXIfr

"Most pediatric residents today have never taken care of an inpatient with rotavirus-induced dehydration," Paul Offit, MD, told MedPage Today.

"That's been the impact of that vaccine. Why do we have to go back?"

Since HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has switched rotavirus vaccination from a blanket recommendation to shared clinical decision-making, pediatricians are worried they'll see more kids needlessly hospitalized.
https://www.medpagetoday.com/pediatrics/vaccines/119330

01/07/2026

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01/07/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1GcnBPTsW4/

A series.

Antivaxxer: “people have been recovering from the flu since the dawn of time, its not a death sentence, but that shot is, I’ll take my chances with the flu.”

Facts:

While most people do recover from the flu, it kills tens of thousands of people every year in the United States alone - between 12,000 and 52,000 deaths annually, with hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations.[1] Globally, influenza causes an estimated 290,000 to 650,000 respiratory deaths each year.[2]

The flu shot is not a "death sentence" - it's actually remarkably safe. Millions of people receive flu vaccines each year, and the most common side effects are mild and temporary: sore arm, headache, muscle aches, or low-grade fever that goes away in a day or two.[3] Serious adverse events are extremely rare.[4][5] In contrast, the flu itself can cause serious complications including pneumonia, heart attacks, strokes, and death - particularly in older adults, young children, pregnant women, and people with chronic health conditions.[1]

The numbers speak for themselves. In the U.S. alone, influenza causes 9 to 41 million illnesses and 140,000 to 710,000 hospitalizations every year.[1] Even healthy people can develop severe complications. Among hospitalized flu patients, 15-22% require intensive care, 5-11% need breathing machines, and 2-4% die in the hospital.[6][7]

The choice isn't between a harmless flu and a dangerous vaccine - it's between a vaccine with minimal, temporary side effects versus a disease that hospitalizes hundreds of thousands and kills tens of thousands every year.

The evidence overwhelmingly supports vaccination as the safer choice. And yes, even if it’s not a perfect match for the seasonal strain!

References

1. Influenza. Uyeki TM, Hui DS, Zambon M, Wentworth DE, Monto AS. Lancet (London, England). 2022;400(10353):693-706. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00982-5.

2. Estimates of Global Seasonal Influenza-Associated Respiratory Mortality: A Modelling Study. Iuliano AD, Roguski KM, Chang HH, et al. Lancet (London, England). 2018;391(10127):1285-1300. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(17)33293-2.

3. Influenza (Flu) Vaccine Safety. CDC Vaccines.

4. Safety Monitoring of Health Outcomes Following Influenza Vaccination During the 2023-2024 Season Among U.S. Commercially-Insured Individuals Aged 6 months Through 64 years: Self-Controlled Case Series Analyses. Lloyd PC, Acharya G, Zhao H, et al. Vaccine. 2025;63:127614. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2025.127614.

5. Post-Licensure Surveillance of Quadrivalent Inactivated Influenza (IIV4) Vaccine in the United States, Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), July 1, 2013-May 31, 2015. Haber P, Moro PL, Lewis P, et al. Vaccine. 2016;34(22):2507-12. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2016.03.048.

6. Laboratory-Confirmed Influenza-Associated Hospitalizations Among Children and Adults - Influenza Hospitalization Surveillance Network, United States, 2010-2023. Naquin A, O'Halloran A, Ujamaa D, et al. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Surveillance Summaries (Washington, D.C. : 2002). 2024;73(6):1-18. doi:10.15585/mmwr.ss7706a1.

7. Influenza-Associated Hospitalizations During a High Severity Season - Influenza Hospitalization Surveillance Network, United States, 2024-25 Influenza Season. O'Halloran A, Habeck JW, Gilmer M, et al. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2025;74(34):529-537. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7434a1.

📣 SAME OLD DISCLAIMER: I will not tolerate any antivax comments or any misinformation regarding vaccines on my page and anyone commenting with such will be deleted and banned without warning (including fake questions/comments meant to disguise the true agenda - I see through this). I’m happy to post links from reputable sources as additional information but I WILL NOT engage with science deniers, especially on this topic.

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