Any parent knows that their child getting the flu can mean, at best, a week of their kid being immobilized at home to worse, their child being hospitalized. The flu makes chicken pox seem like a trip to Disneyland. It’s no joke and depending on your child’s immunity response it can even be fatal.

We talk about the flu so often and people have the tendency to think about it like it’s a really bad cold, but the truth of the matter is that the influenza virus is one of man’s greatest killers. The flu pandemic in 1957 killed over 2 million people worldwide. And in years before that, it literally emptied out small villages and cities around the world.

Since then (thankfully) we’ve only had to contend with mild strains that usually kill 36,000 people per year, while hospitalizing 200,000 people—21,000 of those being children.

In short, flu shots work and are absolutely worth the time and hassle of getting them for yourself and your children. Here’s why:

• The CDC recommends getting them. I know it’s hard to trust “the experts” when it seems like every week they’re coming up with contradictory answers to everything—but in the case of the Centers for Disease Control—these guys are the real deal. Aside from the daily tracking of every death from disease in the United States, they also keep a very close eye on some of the most lethal microbes on earth like the Ebola Virus, HIV, Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria and the Avian Flu; they know their business—and they know the significant risk posed to children who are not inoculated with the flu shot and what can happen to them.

• Flu Shots are “Smart Vaccines.” The flu strain this year is not the flu strain from last year. It’s a virus that constantly mutates. So, while last years vaccine may not have been as effective as years past—it will not be the same for this year. Vaccine makers study the evolutionary trends for the flu virus and from these trends they produce a vaccine that is designed to accommodate the widest spectrum of what the virus will likely be—thus protecting your child.

• Yes, there is a chance it may not work. Technically, the shot is a gamble and the virus may mutate into a form that the vaccine was not designed to protect, as was the case for a high percentage of people in who got the shot in 2007 but came down with a different strain of the flu. The good news is that the vaccine does not do harm to those who take it—so there’s relatively no risk to getting it.  It’s also extremely rare that your child will become sick from the vaccine—you actually have a better shot at winning a Mega Millions Jackpot. (If your child is immune compromised, always consult with your pediatrician before getting any kind of vaccine.)

• Schools are incubators for infections. The flu is very easy to get. Let’s be honest, children can be dirty, really dirty; and they spread germs to one another at an astonishing pace. All it takes is one sick kid in class to sneeze, wipe his face and then wipe it on the desk, a desk your child will be using next period. A flu shot can hedge your bets against this kind of transient school infection and it may prevent your own child from being a spreader of the virus.

Flu Shots are usually shipped out during the last week of September and are widely available from then on.  If you go to the CDC website you can get some information on where they’ll be giving out flu shots. Sometimes communities offer them at public places like grocery stores, clinics and churches.

The best time to get a shot is in October, giving the body the time to produce antibodies and mount an immune response that will protect you for the months to come.

Taking the time now to protect your children will give you peace of mind. The flu shot isn’t perfect, but in age where the flu has killed well over 40 Million humans, it’s better than nothing.

Do you have a flu shot story to tell?