Flu Vaccine Safe for Babies and Toddlers

Influenza vaccine is safe for babies and toddlers aged six years to 23 months, according to a new study.

Researchers from Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, CA, USA) conducted a retrospective cohort study of children aged six years to 23 months who received trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine between January 1, 1991, and May 31, 2003 (a total of 45,356 children with 69,359 vaccinations). Chart reviews were made of significant medically attended events related to flu vaccines at eight managed care organizations in the United States that comprise the Vaccine Safety Datalink, established in 1990 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, Atlanta, GA, USA) for the study of adverse side effects of vaccines. Events associated with trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine in the designated risk windows of zero to three days, one to 14 days (primary analysis), one to 42 days, or 15-42 days after vaccination, were compared with two control periods, one before vaccination and the second after the risk window.

Before chart review, only one diagnosis, gastritis/duodenitis, was more likely to occur in the 14 days after trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine. Thirteen medically attended events were less likely to occur after trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine, including acute upper-respiratory tract infection, asthma, bronchiolitis, and otitis media. After chart review, gastritis/duodenitis was not significantly associated with trivalent inactivated influenza. The researchers concluded that very few medically attended events, none of which were serious, were significantly associated with the vaccine. The study was published in the October 25, 2006, of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

"This study provides additional evidence supporting the safety of universally immunizing all children 6-23 months old with influenza vaccine,” said lead author Dr. Simon J. Hambridge, of Kaiser Permanente Colorado and the department of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine (Denver, USA).

Kaiser Permanente is the largest nonprofit health plan in the United States, founded in 1945.



Related Links:
Kaiser Permanente
University of Colorado School of Medicine