As summer starts to cool down, parents are all too familiar with the return of back to school prep and fun fall activities.
While families are busy checking off school supply lists and spending more time indoors through the chillier months, it might be easy to overlook the preventive care to help keep children safe from illnesses in the community and the upcoming annual flu season.
Last year brought an unprecedented tripledemic– with hospitals, including Seattle Children’s, facing a tremendous number of patients diagnosed with the flu, COVID-19 and the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) that largely affects young children.
In October 2022 alone, Seattle Children’s emergency department saw twice as many patients than usual, sometimes running at 200% capacity.
To shed some light on current public health and safety, On The Pulse spoke with infectious disease experts Dr. Janet Englund and Dr. Sara Vora from Seattle Children’s Research Institute to learn how families can best protect themselves through the upcoming months.
As one of the nation’s top four pediatric research centers, 
