Flu vaccine will be offered to all children
Katy Morton
Thursday, July 26, 2012
All children in the UK are to be offered the annual flu vaccine, to reduce the spread of the virus.
The health secretary Andrew Lansley has announced plans to extend the flu vaccination programme to all children from two to 17-years-old.
Up to nine million children will be offered the flu vaccination on the NHS in the form of a nasal spray from as early as 2014.
The move comes after the health secretary asked the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), a body of independent experts who advise the Government, to look at whether the flu vaccination programme should be extended.
Currently only children in at-risk groups, such as those with asthma, heart conditions or cerebral palsy, are eligible to receive the flu vaccine on the NHS.
According to the Department of Health, even with moderate take-up of the vaccination among children, there could be a 40 per cent decrease in the number of people affected by flu and around 2,000 fewer deaths a year.
They say that very young children, older people and those in at-risk groups will benefit most from the extension of the flu vaccination programme.
Chief medical officer professor Dame Sally Davies, said, ‘We accept the advice of our expert committee that rolling out a wider programme could further protect children. With even a modest take-up helping to protect our most vulnerable.
‘There are significant challenges to delivering a programme that requires up to nine million children to be vaccinated during a six week period and we will look at the recommendations in detail to decide how best to develop and deliver the programme.’
Dr Hilary Cass, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said, ‘By offering the flu vaccine to all children, we should be able to significantly reduce the number of serious cases of flu - both among children and other members of their family.
‘Flu is highly contagious and even though a healthy child is unlikely to develop complications, they could well pass on the virus to other members of the family, such as siblings or grandparents, who are more vulnerable.’
She went on to say that the expansion of the immunisation programme could potentially put extra pressure on school nurses.
