Flu Vaccine OK For Babies And Toddlers

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Main Category: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Also Included In: Flu / Cold / SARS;  Immune System / Vaccines
Article Date: 25 Oct 2006 - 7:00 PDT

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The flu vaccine is safe for babies and toddlers aged 6 to 23 months, say researchers from Kaiser Permanente. After looking at data on 45,000 babies and toddlers throughout the USA, the researchers found very few cases of side effects that led to medical treatments.

You can read about this study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Dr. Simon J. Hambidge, study leader, said that as a parent as well as a pediatrician, it was reassuring how few diagnoses there were that were linked to flu shots.

Approximately 200,000 people are hospitalized in the USA as a result of flu complications. Estimates place the total number of flu related deaths in the USA each year at 36,000.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises that children under five, pregnant women, men and women over 50, those living in nursing homes, and patients with diabetes, lung disease and HIV/AIDS , receive a flu vaccine each year.

Flu Complications

Pneumonia is a common flu complication. It is usually caused by a bacterial infection, but can be caused by the flu virus itself.

It is not unusual for flu complications to appear after you start feeling better. The most common symptoms are a high temperature, chills, shaking and shivering, chest pains as you breathe, and a cough that produces thick yellow-greenish mucus.

Children and teenagers can sometimes develop Reye's Syndrome while they are recovering from flu. Symptoms include vomiting, nausea and progressive confusion and delirium.

Children with flu can sometimes develop ear infections, convulsions (if there is a fever) and croup.

"Safety of Trivalent Inactivated Influenza Vaccine in Children 6 to 23 Months Old
Simon J. Hambidge, MD, PhD; Jason M. Glanz, PhD; Eric K. France, MD, MSPH; David McClure, PhD; Stanley Xu, PhD; Kristi Yamasaki, PharmD; Lisa Jackson, MD, MPH; John P. Mullooly, PhD; Kenneth M. Zangwill, MD; S. Michael Marcy, MD; Steven B. Black, MD; Edwin M. Lewis, MPH; Henry R. Shinefield, MD; Edward Belongia, MD; James Nordin, MD; Robert T. Chen, MD, MA; David K. Shay, MD, MPH; Robert L. Davis, MD, MPH; Frank DeStefano, MD, MPH; for the Vaccine Safety Datalink Team
JAMA. 2006;296:1990-1997.
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Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
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