Many, if not most, U.S. infants do not receive flu vaccinations, but the number who are vaccinated has dramatically increased over the past decade.
A report published in Pediatrics, the medical journal affiliated with the American Academy of Pediatrics, found that in 2011-2012, only 44.7 percent of children between the ages of six months and 23 months were subject to “full influenza vaccination coverage.”
While experts would prefer the rate to increase--and it has in the past four years--the fact that nearly half of infants received a flu vaccine is a radical change from 2002-2003, when only 4.8 percent of infants were vaccinated.
Black and Latino children were less likely than white children to be vaccinated, a finding that is not surprising, given the persistent health care disparities by race and ethnicity.
“Prevention of influenza among infants and young children is a public health priority because of their high risk for influenza-related complications,” said the report, which was written by a team of researchers lead by Dr. Tammy A. Santibanez of the Center for Disease Control. “Depending on a child’s age and previous influenza vaccination history, they are recommended to receive either 1 dose or 2 doses of influenza vaccine to be considered fully vaccinated against influenza for the season.”
The report’s conclusion is rather predictable: “More implementation of evidence-based strategies that increase the percentage of children who are fully vaccinated is needed.”
The rates of vaccination are not much better for older children.
According to data compiled by the CDC last year, just under 50 percent of children between 6 months and 17 years had received the flu vaccine in the past year. In the same year, the agency reported 3,697 deaths from the flu.
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