Should all Australian children be vaccinated against influenza?

Isaacs, David

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2005.tb06811.x

Topics

Infectious diseases

Pediatric medicine

Environment and public health

Questions of cost-effectiveness, vaccine efficacy and feasibility are yet to be answered

In the United States, routine immunisation of all healthy children aged 6–23 months against influenza has recently been introduced. The principal justification for this is the relatively high morbidity and mortality from this disease in very young children.1 The United States is also considering routine influenza immunisation of all children aged over 6 months, in view of the herd protection it would provide to the adult population.

Department of Allergy, Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Westmead, NSW.

Correspondence:

Acknowledgements:

I thank Professor Peter McIntyre, Director of the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, for his helpful suggestions on the manuscript.

Competing interests:

Gerald Watts is a member of the advisory boards for Merck Sharp and Dohme, Pfizer and AstraZeneca in Australia.

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