February 23, 2006 -- Advisory Committee Calls for Flu Shots for Children to Age Five

At a meeting to determine immunization practices for the coming influenza season, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended February 23 that influenza vaccination be routine for all children up to five years of age and for anyone who cares for children of that age, either at home or out-of-home. That would replace previous ACIP recommendations that called for flu shots for infants under the age of two. The new schedule is expected to reduce use of health care and lost work time by parents, and since children are principally responsible for spreading the flu virus, it’s hoped that keeping young children well may help to curb the disease. Adding children up to age five to the pool of potential flu vaccine recipients would require 20 million to 30 million more doses of the vaccine, if all eligible children were vaccinated, but the ACIP points out that in last year’s flu season, slightly less than half of children up to age two were actually immunized. Vaccination makers have told the government they can make 100 million to 120 million doses next season. In today’s announcement, the CDC stressed that vaccination is strongly recommended for children of all ages who have chronic medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes, kidney disease, or weakened immune systems. Children under nine years of age who are receiving the influenza vaccine for the first time should receive two doses. The 2006-2007 flu vaccine will contain two new strains, an A/Wisconsin/67/2005(H3N2)-like virus and a B/Malaysia/2506/2004-like virus. One strain from the 2005-2006 vaccine, the A/New Caledonia/20/99(H1N1)-like virus strain will remain in the upcoming vaccine.