WebMD : declared in Most U.S. Kids Who Die From Flu Are Unvaccinated

If all children got their yearly flu shot, 65 percent of those deaths could be prevented, the researchers estimated. Flannery's team found that a flu shot can cut the risk of death among both healthy kids and those with "high-risk" medical conditions. Researchers found that about three-quarters of U.S. kids who died of flu complications between 2010 and 2014 were unvaccinated before they fell ill. "This shows you, once again, that kids should get their flu shot," said Dr. Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The researchers then compared those kids with three large groups of U.S. children whose flu vaccination rates had been tracked.

The Vast Majority Of Kids Who Die Of The Flu Aren't Vaccinated

Researchers determined the flu vaccine was 51 percent effective in high-risk children and 65 percent effective in low-risk kids. (The agency uses estimates rather than exact counts for adult influenza deaths because flu deaths tend to be underreported on death certificates and not all states are required to report them. "The vaccine is not perfect and some children in this study died from flu despite receiving [the] vaccine," Flannery said. Also, some people who die from flu complications aren't tested for the flu.) "It was surprising therefore that only one in three children with underlying risk factors for severe flu had been vaccinated."Among the healthy children who died of the flu, just 20 percent had received a seasonal flu vaccine.


A nurse prepares an injection of the influenza vaccine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mass., on Jan. 10, 2013. The CDC counts flu deaths in children but estimates deaths in adults because there are so many. Overall, the flu vaccine lowered the risk of death in children by 65 percent, but only by 51 percent in high-risk kids. Most children who have died of flu in recent years were not vaccinated against the virus, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers reported Monday. "We looked at four seasons when we know from other studies that the vaccine prevented flu illness, and we found consistent protection against flu deaths in children."


collected by :Lucy William
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