Flu vaccine safe for babes and tots

A new study from the U.S. says it is safe for children as young as 6 months to have the flu vaccine.

Researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Clinical Research Unit in Denver Colorado examined data on 45,000 babies and toddlers aged 6 to 23 months throughout the USA, who received almost 70,000 vaccinations between January 1991 and May 2003, and say they found very few cases of side effects that led to medical treatments.

Study leader Dr. Simon J. Hambidge, says as a parent as well as a pediatrician, he was reassured by how few diagnoses there were that were linked to flu shots.

Complications as a result of influenza account for as many as 200,000 people being hospitalized in the USA each year and it is estimated that 36,000 deaths related to flu occur each year.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises that children under five, pregnant women, men and women over 50, those living in nursing homes, and patients with diabetes, lung disease and HIV/AIDS, receive a flu vaccine each year.

One of the most common flu complications is pneumonia which though usually caused by a bacterial infection, but can also be caused by the flu virus itself.

Flu complications often appear after patients are beginning to recover and the researchers say conditions such as asthma, ear infections and the common cold were less likely to occur after vaccination.

The study is published in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.