The Flu Vaccine and Cloth Diapers

Wondering about the flu vaccine and cloth diapers?

I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. (Speaking of TV doctors, I kind of miss Noah Wyle!) However, I do happen to know Jami Bennett. Jami is my brother’s friend, and she’s got a Ph.D in Immunology & Microbiology. Since she hadn’t learned enough getting a doctorate in microscopic particles and what they do to humans, she also pursued a Master’s in Physiotherapy, which she currently practices. I promise, she exists. And I ran this post by her before publishing.

Please note that this post is directed at parents who vaccinate, and is not a forum for anti-vax debates. Thanks in advance!

Do You Need to Disinfect Cloth Diapers after the Flu Vaccine?

Now that it’s flu season, I’ve starting seeing Mamas concerned about whether their baby’s cloth diapers need any special treatment for any period of time after they’ve had the poke.

Short answer: Nope!

As you can see on Health Canada’s website, the 2014 flu vaccine in its various forms are all inactivated vaccines. Inactivated means that the contagious part of the vaccine is dead, so being injected with it does not make a person nor that person’s poop a potential vector of sickness. The same goes for the vast majority of scheduled childhood vaccines, except rotavirus, which will be the subject of a future post.

As always, you should thoroughly wash your hands after changing your child’s diaper, vaccines or not!