Health
Childhood flu shots cost-effective
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted March 8, 2004
Just as a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation kicks in that children 6 to 23 months old should receive a flu shot, a study citing the cost effectiveness of the vaccine is released.
A flu vaccination is effective in averting illness and can save $10 to $25 per child compared with the cost of treating children who develop the flu, according to a study in the March 1 Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Vaccinating children may also protect adults. Influenza can spread like wildfire through a school and can be carried home to infect family members, according to the study. Vaccinated children may help keep the virus from ever reaching their parents.
The severity of the last flu season and the widespread publicity of children's deaths has heightened awareness of the availability and need for the flu vaccine for children.
"In this country, we should have a very permissive attitude toward influenza vaccine," said Kathleen Neuzil, MD, MPH, author of an editorial accompanying the research article. "If you're six months and older, the vaccine is available to you, you can get it and it can prevent influenza."
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/03/08/hlbf0308.htm.
