The new University of Rochester study has found that the children who receive all recommended flu vaccine appear to be less likely to catch the respiratory virus.The disease hospitalizes nearly 20,000 children every year.
The study looked at children between 6 months (the youngest able to receive the vaccine) and 5 years old in 2003-2004 and 2004-2005. The study found that, even though those years had poor matches between the vaccine and the circulating flu strains, the shots were clearly protective during the 2004-05 year and possibly even during the 2003-04 year.
The study, which was performed as part of the CDC-funded New Vaccine Surveillance Network, included 2,400 from 6 months old to 5 years old in Rochester, Nashville and Cincinnati. Nasal and throat swabs were used to determine whether children who came to the hospital or participating outpatient practice had the flu.Only 6 percent of the children in the study were fully vaccinated in 2003-2004 and 19 percent were fully vaccinated in 2004-2005. The 2006-2007 season was the first year the CDC recommended children up to 5 receive the vaccine. The CDC now recommends children up to 18 years old receive the vaccine.
Katherine Eisenberg, B.A., an M.D., Ph.D. candidate at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and author of the paper said,
“These years were poor matches and fully vaccinated children were still half as likely to get the flu. Conservatively, we can estimate that vaccination for flu could prevent 2,250 hospitalizations and between 270,000 and 650,000 doctor visits for children if half of U.S. children 6 months to 5 years old were vaccinated.”
Source: EurekAlert
Filed under Bird Flu, Health
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