CDC Broadens Age For Flu Shots In Children
Oct 14, 2008 
Family doctor James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H., publishes James Hubbard's My Family Doctor, a magazine written by health-care professionals for the general public. It provides fun-to-read, in-depth insight and advice on staying healthy, combating disease and learning about how your body works. Topics include nutrition, mental health, children's health and much more.
James Hubbard--
CDC issues big change in recommended flu-shot age for kids
The recommended flu-shot age has broadened by about 13 years, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Previously, the CDC only recommended that children 6 months to 5 years old get vaccinated. Other kids would benefit, but that age group particularly needed the protection. The flu puts 20,000 children under 5 in the hospital each year; 86 died last year. Good reasons.
But this year, they've raised the cutoff age for kids to 18. Why the change? I wrote the CDC but didn't get a response. I’m thinking it's not so much risks of complications, but to cut down on the school epidemics, lost school days and spreading it to others, both younger and older.
They already recommend the shot to people with chronic disease, the elderly and the pregnant. All that’s left are healthy 19- to 49-year-olds (50, elderly? I think not!). The CDC recommends that group can take it if they want to “decrease their risk of getting the flu.” The complications are relatively low in that age group.
Get the immunization when it becomes available this fall. The CDC says it should last all season but takes a week or two to protect you. Children 6 to 9 should be vaccinated twice, 30 days apart, if they've never had a flu vaccination (fun for all). After that, it’s once a year. The good news is they can take the shot or nasal spray. Both work the same. The spray costs about $30.00 per dose and is only recommended for those 2 to 49 who are healthy and not pregnant.
Children under 6 months can’t get the immunization. However, a recent study showed they inherit their mother’s immunity for that long, if she was vaccinated that season while pregnant.
So, if you want to follow the CDC recommendations, get those kids immunized. Don’t delay and don’t blame me; I’m only the messenger.
For more information, visit the CDC's site on children and the flu.
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Reader Comments (3)
According to the CDC 5-20 percent of U.S. population gets the flu each year, 200,000 are hospitalized and 36,000 die.
Gets your attention.
I'm rather leery about giving my kid a shot he could possibly die from. Does the immunization outweigh the risk of getting the flu?
Also, why now? Why this year? Is the government expecting a flu epidemic?
JD
Please know that I am only conveying information. I never make specific recommendations for individual treatment online.
I can understand the way you feel, and it is up to you to decide. The CDC makes recommendations based on the public health. They go into detail at
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr57e717a1.htm
In that article they cite a 5 year study showing no life-threatening side-effects in children, in the study, who received the flu shot. That does not mean it could not rarely happen.
In the article they say they are making the new recommendations for ages 5-18 because:
1) accumulated evidence that influenza vaccine is effective and safe for school-aged children (see "Influenza Vaccine Efficacy, Effectiveness, and Safety"),
2) increased evidence that influenza has substantial adverse impacts among school-aged children and their contacts (e.g., school absenteeism, increased antibiotic use, medical care visits, and parental work loss) (see "Health-Care Use, Hospitalizations, and Deaths Attributed to Influenza"), and,
3) an expectation that a simplified age-based influenza vaccine recommendation for all school-age children and adolescents will improve vaccine coverage levels among the approximately 50% of school-aged children who already had a risk- or contact-based indication for annual influenza vaccination.
Other groups, such as anyone with a chronic disease (asthma, diabetes, heart disease, etc), should be vaccinated to decrease risks of flu-related complications, like pneumonia.
It is too early to make any good predictions on how widespread the flu will be this year.
Thanks