May 29, 2012

expert reaction to suggestion of flu vaccination for all school-age children

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, a governmental advisory panel of independent experts, mooted a universal flu vaccination programme for schoolchildren.

Prof Adam Finn, Professor of Paediatrics, University of Bristol Medical School, said:

“The catalyst for this interest is the arrival of a new nasal flu vaccine, which is very easy to give and is licensed for children from age 2. There are, essentially no safety concerns about the nasal flu vaccine.

“The only country in Europe that is giving universal childhood vaccinations is Finland. There they are using the old injected vaccine but uptake is not great. Most of the data and experience comes from the USA. The Japanese took this approach for a long time but then gave up in the late 1980s / early 1990s.

“We are currently doing a series of studies in Bristol on acceptability, cost-benefit and the impact of such a proposal. My impression is that there is a need for more research before a decision is made.”

Dr David Elliman, Consultant In Community Child Health, Great Ormond Street Hospital, said:

“It is apparent from the draft JCVI minutes that the committee was not unanimous and I don’t think it has concluded that such a programme should be recommended. There seem to be a number of unanswered questions and the resources that this would require are immense.

“From what I have seen I would want much more of a push to immunise at risk children before embarking on all school children.”

Prof Ian Jones, Professor of Virology, University of Reading, said:

“Vaccinating all school children, regardless of whether they are high risk or not, has been discussed before and was an option when pandemic flu appeared to be targeting the young. The key change in the UK is that the intranasal vaccine has just been licensed (Dec 2011) and is now available. This licence may have prompted the discussion again as, from a practical perspective, it now seems more feasible.

“There is very strong evidence of benefits from vaccinating all children as not only does it protect the vaccinated child, but it also benefits society generally as children act as ‘superspreaders’. There are many safety tests that are gone through and this particular vaccine has been used extensively in the US. It’s also extremely unlikely that there could be any issue of ‘over-vaccinating’ as it is a nasal spray.

“Each year the WHO will still advise which mix of flu strains need to be protected against, so this will not do away with the need for regular updates.”