The effectiveness of the seasonal influenza vaccine for kids was more than 55% during the respiratory virus seasons from November 2015 to April 2020, according to a study in JAMA Network Open. The 15,728 US children ages 6 months to 17 years who were studied realized protection against emergency department (ED) visits or hospitalization with at least 1 dose of the vaccine. No difference in estimated effectiveness was observed based on varying levels of flu severity. Receiving at least 1 vaccine dose was estimated to have an effectiveness of 55.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 51.6%-59.6%) for preventing influenza-associated ED visits or hospitalizations among children in all age groups. Of the cases testing positive for flu, 1,676 children (61.8%) had an ED visit, 896 children (33.1%) required hospitalization for noncritical influenza, and 138 children (5.1%) required hospitalization for critical influenza. About half (7,779 [49.5%]) of the children (both positive and negative in testing) were vaccinated.
Little ones benefit a little more: Younger children ages 6 months to 8 years experienced higher vaccine effectiveness (58.1% [95% CI, 53.7%-62.1%]) compared with older children ages 9 to 17 years (42.6% [95% CI, 29.2%-53.5%]).