Kids' Flu Shot Largely Ineffective Over Past Few Years

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Szilagyi's group found that children who got the flu were less likely to have been vaccinated, compared with children who didn't get sick.

However, after they adjusted for flu risk factors -- such as a child's location, sex, insurance status, chronic health conditions or timing of the vaccine -- the effectiveness of the vaccine could no longer be shown. The effectiveness of the flu shot ranged from 7 percent to 52 percent for 6- to 59-month-old children who had been fully vaccinated, the researchers found.

The less-than-perfect match between the strain of flu in the vaccine during the two seasons studied and the flu that was actually circulating may have contributed substantially to the poor effectiveness of the vaccine, Szilagyi's team speculated.

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In 2003 to 2004, 99 percent of circulating flu was influenza A, but only 11 percent of the influenza A strain in the United States was similar to the strains included in the vaccine.

"The 2004-2005 season was less severe, and the vaccine was a better match to circulating strains than in 2003-2004, but still only 36 percent of virus isolates were antigenically similar to vaccine strains," the authors noted.

From September 2007 to April 2008, the CDC reported a total of 72 deaths from flu among children with many more hospitalized.

Belshe said that, for children over two, the nasal flu vaccine should be used instead of an injection. "It is recommended for children and adults, aged 2 to 49 who do not have asthma or recurrent wheezing -- that's about 80 percent of children," he said.

For younger children, "you're stuck with a flu shot -- no pun intended," Belshe said. "The flu shots should still be used. It probably modifies the severity of the illness, even though it doesn't protect completely against the illness itself -- it is important to take," he said.

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