Influenza vaccine is given to children for protection against Flu
It is given every year according to the guideline by WHO
Every year WHO declears the matched virus vaccine separately for Northern and Southern Hemisphere
In 2019-2020 children suffered from influenza mismatched to vaccine virus
Researchers studied children admitted with the disease from 17 hospitals
All children less than 18 years, underwent RT-PCR test on their respiratory specimen for the diagnosis of Influenza/Flu.
Positive test results were case cohort ,(159 children with median age 6 years),while negative test results were control cohort,(132 children with median age 4 years).
Critical cases were defined by deaths,need of vasopressors,hemodynamic instability, and need of mechanical ventilation
In case cohort ,51% were found to be A/H1N1pdm09 and 25% B Victoria virus.Among A/H1NI pdm09 sequenced 56 children ,52% were vaccine mismatched and 41% were vaccine matched.Among B- lineage, most were vaccine mismatched
It has been found on analysis that the vaccine was effective in 63% cases for any virus,64% against A/H1N1pdm09 and 68% against B- lineage
Vaccine was effective in 75% life threatening cases and 57% non life threatening cases.
vaccine is effective in 78% matched A/HIN1pdmo9 virus and 47 % mismatched virus.It was found to be effective in 78% against mismatched B-lineage virus
It has been concluded that the vaccination reduced the life threatening influenza by 75%
Vaccine efffectiveness were assessed by odds of vaccination in case cohort v/s control cohort
THE MOST IMPOTANT MESSAGE IS ,ALL CHILDREN SHOULD BE INOCULATED WITH INFLUENZA VACCINE YEARLY ACCORDING TO THE AVAILABILITY OF THE VACCINE
REFERENCES:
Olson SM, Newhams MM, Halasa NB, et al. Vaccine effectiveness against life-threatening influenza illness in US children. Clin Infect Dis. Published online January 13, 2022. doi:10.1093/cid/ciab931