Dubai: With less than two weeks for schools to reopen for the new term and with the flu season round the corner, doctors are advising parents to get flu shots for their children.

“The new vaccines will be available soon,” said Dr Mandar Bichu, paediatrician and editor of www.rightparenting.com, adding that immunising the child will prevent the usual symptoms of fever, runny nose, cough and tummy pain.

The weather will turn for the better very soon in September as the temperature will drop, marking the end of summer.

The vaccine will give a 80 per cent protection from the viral flu, doctors said, noting that the young and the elderly are particularly vulnerable.

The flu bug mutates every year, and every year a new vaccination is needed to fight the new strain. The vaccine will be available in clinics in the first week of September and will cost Dh90.

Doctor Bichu recommends that parents should not treat any fever with antibiotics but should treat the flu symptomatically, as overdosing on antibiotics will make the bug resistant and these will no longer work.

The doctor said some of the children returning from the holidays will surely bring with them some viruses and that they will manifest here.

Parents should acclimatise the children to the new schedule as now the children will have to get back to sleeping and getting up early, he said.

Dr Mukesh Batra, a homeopathic practitioner and CEO of Dr Batra’s Positive Health Clinics, said parents and educationists should emphasise good hygiene practices to pupils.

“Wash hands regularly and cough or sneeze into a tissue,” he said. The doctor of alternative medicine said good nutrition will boost the immunity of the pupils. “Avoid sugar as it can make you hyperactive,” he said.

The doctor warned against eating fast foods regularly and instead eat nutritious foods and vegetables, egg yolk, sunflower seeds and wholegrains. “Oranges are rich in vitamin C and will help fight colds,” he said.

He said families should return from vacation two days early to give the child time to acclimatise to the new schedule.

The doctor said the homeopathic medicine, Echinacea, will build up the child’s immunity against coughs and cold.