NEWS

After death of daughter, parents urge flu vaccine

Linda Lombroso
llombros@lohud.com
  • Amanda Kanowitz was a healthy preschooler when she died of the flu in 2004
  • Her parents, who live in Scarsdale, are active in Families Fighting Flu, a national organization
  • The CDC currently recommends the flu vaccine for children ages 6 months and up
  • The year Amanda died of the flu, 153 pediatric deaths were reported in 40 states, says the CDC

Amanda Kanowitz was a healthy 4-year-old when she came down with a cough and a fever. Two days later she didn't wake up.

Alissa and Richard Kanowitz, whose 4-year-old daughter Amanda died of the flu in 2004. Richard is a founder of Families Fighting Flu, a national organization that aims to raise awareness about the dangers of flu and the importance of getting children immunized. They are photograph Oct. 28, 2014 at their home in Scarsdale.

For Alissa and Richard Kanowitz of Scarsdale, Amanda's death in 2004 marked the beginning of a fight to raise awareness of the dangers of influenza — and to save other families from going through the pain of losing a child.

"The flu is a serious respiratory illness that can kill you, and the only way to prevent it is to get vaccinated each and every year," said Richard Kanowitz, the president and founding member of Families Fighting Flu, a national nonprofit advocacy organization.

But even with flu season fast approaching, some parents are still reluctant to have their children vaccinated, said Dr. Theresa Hetzler, a pediatrician with Children's & Women's Physicians of Westchester. Many say they've never had the flu, so they're not worried about anybody in their household getting sick. Others are concerned their kids may get the flu from the flu vaccine.

But once Hetzler explains that's not going to happen, they often change their minds. "That one day of not feeling 100 percent after the vaccine is much better than 10 days of feeling horrible," she said.

"What I usually say to people when they say the vaccine is not fully effective is you don't want to be playing Russian roulette with your child," said Richard Kanowitz.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 20,000 children under the age of 5 are hospitalized every year due to complications from influenza. During the 2013-2014 flu season, more than 100 pediatric deaths were reported.

But the flu vaccine wasn't always recommended for all children.

When Amanda got the flu 10 years ago, she hadn't gotten a flu shot. At the time, the vaccine was advised for children ages 6 to 23 months, and Amanda wasn't in that age group. Until she got sick, Richard and Alissa Kanowitz had no idea how serious the flu could become in a child — and how quickly things could go bad.

"Her body couldn't fight the virus and didn't know how to regulate itself," said Richard Kanowitz. "It was her body's immune system and the reaction to the virus that killed it."

The Kanowitz family have two other children, both of whom get flu shots every year.

Dr. Lewis Kass, a pediatric pulmonologist in Mount Kisco, said that healthy children and those with chronic medical conditions can die from the flu if they're not protected. "If you can do anything to stack the odds in your favor, I would do it," he said. "It's just a one-two punch that some kids can't handle."

"The scary thing is that almost half of the children who died of the flu in the past were healthy children," said Hetzler.

The CDC started tracking pediatric flu-related deaths after the 2003-2004 flu season, when Amanda got the virus. That season, 153 pediatric deaths were reported to the CDC from 40 states. During the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, 348 children died of the flu.

Injuries are the leading cause of death in children in the United States, followed by cancer and birth defects, according to data from the CDC. In 2011, the most recent year death-rate data is available, 2,138 children under 10 died from injuries in accidents — and 175 died from influenza and pneumonia.

Children with asthma or heart disease are particularly susceptible to getting sicker from the flu, said Kass, because the virus gets into the chest and causes mucus and swelling. But healthy infants in their first year of life, with an immune system that is still developing, can also be overwhelmed by influenza.

Families Fighting Flu worked hard to get vaccine recommendations expanded, said Laura Scott, executive director of the Virginia-based organization.

Current recommendations, set by the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, are for children ages 6 months and up to get the nasal spray or the flu shot every year. The nasal spray is recommended for healthy children ages 2 through 8 without certain underlying medical conditions.

Parents were upset there wasn't a vaccine against EV-D68 — the enterovirus that sent children to the hospital across the country in recent months — said Westchester County Health Commissioner Dr. Sherlita Amler. But there does exist a vaccine that can prevent the flu. "It's always the disaster du jour that people get excited about, but it's the bread and butter stuff we really should be concerned about, the stuff that we can actually do something about — that can really save a life."

"You should get vaccinated, and the earlier the better," said Hetzler.

In memory of their daughter, Richard and Alissa Kanowitz created the Amanda Kanowitz Foundation, an organization whose mission includes making sure parents know to get their kids vaccinated against the flu each year.

"The alternative is to join a club that I'm in, which no one wants to join, having lost a child to a vaccine-preventable illness," said Richard Kanowitz.

Twitter: @LindaLombroso