A study has found that the influenza vaccine is effective in preventing severe illness, including hospitalizations, in children.
The research, led by scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), revealed that receiving at least one dose of the flu vaccine reduced the risk of influenza-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations by more than 50 percent.
“Vaccination is one of the most effective methods to protect children from influenza and its complications, including severe illness and hospitalization,” the researchers noted in their paper. They also emphasized that increasing vaccination rates among children could help reduce influenza cases, which may, in turn, lower emergency room visits and hospitalizations, especially during periods of high respiratory virus activity.
Published online in the JAMA Network Open, the study analyzed data from 15,728 children aged 6 months to 17 years who sought care for acute respiratory illnesses. Of these participants, 17.2 percent tested positive for influenza, while 82.8 percent tested negative. Overall, 49.5 percent of children in both the test-positive and test-negative groups had received the flu vaccine.
The study found that, among children of all ages, at least one dose of the influenza vaccine was 55.7 percent effective in preventing influenza-related emergency department visits or hospitalizations. Vaccine effectiveness was similar across various severity levels: 52.8 percent for emergency department visits, 52.3 percent for noncritical hospitalizations, and 50.4 percent for critical hospitalizations.
The vaccine’s effectiveness was particularly high among children aged 6 months to 8 years, who are most at risk for severe illness.
The research concludes that annual influenza vaccination is crucial to protecting children from varying levels of flu-related illness, from emergency visits to critical hospitalizations, during the flu season.
