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medpundit |
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Thursday, February 15, 2007A U.S.-led team of international medical scientists says a nasal spray influenza vaccine, FluMist, is more effective for babies than flu shots. While it's true the kids (ages 6mos to 5 years) had fewer cases of influenza, they had higher rates of other respiratory illnesses and hospitalizations after the nasal vaccine ("live attenuated vaccine"= FluMist): Among previously unvaccinated children, wheezing within 42 days after the administration of dose 1 was more common with live attenuated vaccine than with inactivated vaccine, primarily among children 6 to 11 months of age; in this age group, 12 more episodes of wheezing were noted within 42 days after receipt of dose 1 among recipients of live attenuated vaccine (3.8%) than among recipients of inactivated vaccine (2.1%, P=0.076). Rates of hospitalization for any cause during the 180 days after vaccination were higher among the recipients of live attenuated vaccine who were 6 to 11 months of age (6.1%) than among the recipients of inactivated vaccine in this age group (2.6%, P=0.002). As is so often the case, it all depends on how you measure success. But for most parents, having a kid get sick counts as a failure, not a success, even if the illness wasn't culture-proven influenza. posted by Sydney on 2/15/2007 09:28:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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