Influenza vaccination for pediatric emergencies can affect children at risk

The establishment, in pediatric emergencies, a program of vaccination against influenza for children classified as "at risk" and their families can effectively increase the coverage of the population that too often escapes the vaccine, according a U.S. study.
Influenza vaccination significantly reduced morbidity in children at risk of complications due to health weakened by illness (respiratory or cardiovascular system, immune deficiency, hemoglobinopathies) or medication (taken chronic aspirin).

Yet it is underutilized. For example, only 10 to 25% of asthmatic children receiving the vaccine.

It is also recommended that the environment of these children to be vaccinated against influenza to reduce the risk of transmission. Again, the board is poorly monitored.

The team led by Dante Pappano, at the Medical University of Rochester, wanted to evaluate the effectiveness of a program for influenza vaccination implemented in a pediatric emergency department. According to her, a consultation in a pediatric emergency department is a unique opportunity to improve immunization coverage of children at risk, three-quarters of users of emergency is a chronic disease.

Researchers have therefore included 337 families in their study, which they granted the same information about the disease, its indications and cons-indications, and how to get the vaccine outside the study. Then they were divided randomly into two groups: 171 families were offered the vaccine against influenza, while 166 families were used as controls.

At the end of the season, three quarters of the families in the first group were vaccinated, against just over half of the families of the second group.

Finally, the 80 vaccinated children in the first group, two-thirds had taken advantage of the vaccination program proposed emergency to receive the vaccine, while the remaining third had been vaccinated in another context.

"An influenza vaccination program implemented in a pediatric emergency service seems to be very useful for at-risk children who have not been vaccinated," the authors conclude.

In the United States, the Committee recommendations of immunization practices and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend vaccination of all children aged 6 months to 23 months, whether or not they risk factors. They give the same advice to family members of children "at risk", which represent a significant source of contamination.