Flu vaccines for kids protect everyone

Systematically immunizing schoolkids against influenza reduces outbreaks in the entire community, according to a study in the December issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases. Researchers led by ACSH advisor Dr. Paul Glezen at Baylor College of Medicine examined what happened in schools in eastern Bell County, Texas, after 48 percent of elementary school children were vaccinated via a nasal spray in the fall and early winter of 2007. Compared with a similar community where the vaccine was offered via injection, the usual method, people in the study site ages 18 and older were 10 to 15 percent less likely to develop flu severe enough to require medical treatment, the study found. Dr. Edward Lewin, a pediatrician, says in a commentary accompanying the study that schoolchildren are “centrifugal spreaders” of flu — with the highest attack rates and the worst hygiene — so targeting them makes a lot of sense.