Every year, with the arrival of cold weather, we fear an epidemic of influenza. We worry about our loved ones, especially children and the elderly. Is it possible to protect a child from the flu, especially if he goes to kindergarten or school?
The traditional way to prevent influenza, recommended by the World Health Organization, is vaccination, which is recommended for all people aged 6 months and older.
Should or should not children be vaccinated against the flu and why?
Influenza is an acute infectious respiratory disease caused by influenza viruses that spreads by airborne droplets from person to person. Influenza is characterized by a high degree of contagiousness and virulence (the number of viral particles needed to infect the body). Currently, there are no drugs with proven effectiveness that act on the influenza virus. In fact, the human body, namely its immune system, is fighting the flu virus on its own.Children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with chronic illnesses are most at risk of getting the flu.The flu is dangerous for its complications, both from the lungs, including pneumonia, and from other human organs and systems. The flu is especially severe in young children and the elderly. The common cold does not lead to such a number and frequency of complications.Influenza viruses are divided into three main subgroups according to their genetic composition: influenza A virus, influenza B virus, and C. The influenza virus (especially influenza A virus) is very variable and easily circulates around the world from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere and back. These factors determine the annual change in the subspecies (strain) of the virus causing the disease during a given epidemic period. Every season, a new strain of the virus appears, which our immune system has either not yet encountered and, therefore, cannot easily cope with, or it met several years ago (from 2-3 years to more than 30 years [1]).That is why children are most susceptible to the flu virus, as they have not had time to encounter all the circulating strains of the flu virus and develop immunity against them in their short lives. At the same time, most children attend either school or kindergarten, where infections are easily transmitted from child to child indoors. It is often enough for one child, a carrier of a viral infection, to come to class, and soon the whole class, and then the school, will get sick.It is recommended to be vaccinated against influenza annually, since each epidemic season is characterized by its own most common strains of the influenza virus, while there is always the possibility of a new mutation of the virus. Every year, scientists, based on an analysis of the epidemiological situation around the world, create a vaccine against those strains that are most likely to cause diseases this year.After the introduction of the vaccine, protection against influenza is formed within two to three weeks and lasts about a year. Vaccination is best carried out in early autumn, as flu epidemics usually occur from November to March.Vaccination is especially necessary for people predisposed to severe flu with complications: infants, pregnant women, the elderly, people suffering from chronic diseases, as well as their loved ones, including those who care for children or sick people.The risk of complications from influenza in children younger than 6 months is higher than in older children, but vaccination is not carried out before 6 months. Therefore, the best way to protect an infant under 6 months of age is to vaccinate all members of his family, babysitters and other people in contact with them.
The EMC Children's Clinic is vaccinating against influenza with the Influvac vaccine.
The Influvak vaccine is an inactivated split vaccine for the prevention of influenza, the composition of which ensures the development of specific immunity to epidemiologically relevant strains of influenza virus types A and B. Immunity is developed between the 2nd and 3rd weeks after vaccination and lasts from 6 to 12 months.Contraindications to the introduction of the "Influvak" vaccine:
-
hypersensitivity to any of the components of the vaccine, as well as components of chicken meat or eggs, neomycin, formaldehyde and octoxynol-9;
-
severe reactions or complications to previous administration of this vaccine;
In cases of diseases accompanied by an increase in body temperature, as well as in acute or exacerbation of a chronic disease, vaccination should be postponed until recovery or remission of the chronic process.A child who is being vaccinated against influenza for the first time in his life is shown to receive a double injection of the vaccine with an interval of 4 weeks in order to achieve stable protective immunity. If a child has not received a second injection of the vaccine during this flu season, according to international recommendations, it is advisable to vaccinate him twice next year.
Getting an annual flu vaccination is the best way to protect yourself and your child from a serious illness.
If the child does get sick, for example, during the period of immunity formation, the flu vaccine can alleviate the course of the disease.
[1] For example, epidemics of the influenza A virus strain H1N1 occurred in 1918-1919, 1933-1935, 1946-1947, 1977-1978, 2009-2010. More than 30 years have passed between the last two outbreaks.
.webp)
.webp)
.webp)
