A new US study suggests that a schools vaccination programme can reduce the overall spread of flu in a community.
The study is published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Dr. James C. King of the Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Medicine, led the research, which involved schools in Maryland, Minnesota, Texas and Washington.
Dr King and his team looked at children attending elementary schools. There were 11 groups of schools, with similar demographic characteristics, across the four US states. Each group comprised one school where children aged 5 and older received vaccinations in Autumn 2004 (they called this the “intervention school”), and one or two schools where they did not (the “control school”). On average, 47 per cent of the children in the “intervention” schools received the flu vaccine.
The families of children in both intervention and control schools were asked to record all flu-like symptoms, medications and doctor visits, and researchers also looked at the absence records of the schools involved, including reasons for absence. The data-gathering focused on the 7 days leading up to a predicted “peak weak” of flu in each state.
The researchers concluded that overall, the families of children who attended the intervention schools showed significantly lower symptoms of flu-like illness than the families of children who attended control schools.
“Effectiveness of School-Based Influenza Vaccination”
James C. King, Jr., M.D., Jeffrey J. Stoddard, M.D., Manjusha J. Gaglani, M.B., B.S., Kristine A. Moore, M.D., M.P.H., Laurence Magder, Ph.D., Elizabeth McClure, M.D., M.P.H., Judith D. Rubin, M.D., M.P.H., Janet A. Englund, M.D., and Kathleen Neuzil, M.D., M.P.H.
NEJM, Volume 355:2523-2532, December 14, 2006, Number 24
Written by: Catharine Paddock
Writer: Medical News Today