By Ethan Covey
A full course of influenza vaccine greatly reduces the risk for related hospitalization among children, according to a new study.
The report, which focused on patients at Clalit Health Services hospitals in Israel, is one of the first to study influenza vaccine effectiveness among hospitalized children, and the first to do so in Israel (Clin Infect Dis 2019;69[12]:2153-2161).
Researchers reviewed retrospective data from 3,746 hospitalizations of children aged 6 months to 8 years at six hospitals in Israel. Vaccine effectiveness was evaluated for three influenza seasons: 2015-2016, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. In Israel, as in the United States, recommendations specify that children aged 6 months through 8 years receive two doses of influenza vaccine if they have not received more than one influenza vaccine previously.
The team found that the risk for influenza-related hospitalization was reduced by 54% in the children who received two doses of the vaccine. Additionally, estimated vaccine effectiveness was significantly lower for patients who were only partially vaccinated. According to the study authors, this finding proved the benefit of the two-vaccine approach, particularly in high-risk individuals.
“Over half of our study population had underlying conditions that may put them at high risk for severe influenza-related complications, so preventing influenza in this group is critically important,” commented Hannah Segaloff, a research fellow at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, in Ann Arbor. “Our results also showed that the vaccine was effective in three different seasons with different circulating viruses, reinforcing the importance of getting an influenza vaccine every year no matter what virus is circulating.”
“[The study] reaffirms that vaccination is the most effective way to prevent both the flu and hospitalization,” added Ran Balicer, MD, the director of the Clalit Research Institute and a professor at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev School of Public Health, in Beersheba, Israel. “We hope parents will be aware of these facts and make an informed decision about the importance of vaccinating their children.”
