Few kids with asthma get flu shot as recommended

By Megan Rauscher

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The first national U.S. study to gauge influenza vaccination rates in children with asthma found that only 29 percent of asthmatic children got a flu shot during the 2004-2005 flu season.

In a telephone interview with Reuters Health, Susan N. Brim, staff epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, "100 percent of children with asthma older than 6 months should be getting this vaccine every year."

These children, she noted, are at increased risk for complications from influenza.

Since 1964, CDC and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices have recommended that all children with asthma older than 6 months get vaccinated each year against influenza, note Brim and colleagues in Friday's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of the CDC.

Clearly, "increased efforts are needed to make sure that both parents and physicians are aware that this recommendation exists," Brim said.

The CDC used data from the ongoing National Health Interview Survey to assess flu vaccination rates among children 2-27 years old. The rate ranged from 33 percent among 2-4 year-olds to 28 percent of those 5-12 years of age, with the average being 29 percent.

Having to make a trip to the doctor during flu season to get a child vaccinated against the flu is one barrier to annual influenza vaccination, Brim noted. Adults can usually go to flu clinics at supermarkets or the local health department, for example, but children have to get it at their doctor's office.

Year-round scheduling of fall and winter influenza vaccination appointments and computerized reminder systems may help boost flu shot rates, the CDC notes. In one study, the percentage of children with asthma who received at least one dose of flu vaccine jumped significantly from 23 percent to 35 percent after implementation of a year-round scheduling policy.

Apart from that, Brim urges parents to "make a note in their calendar to schedule an appointment early with their physician to get their asthmatic child vaccinated against influenza."

SOURCE: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, March 8, 2007.