Immunizing School Children Helps Fight The Flu In Other Ways, Too

Have you received your flu vaccination yet? Recent findings published in the journal PLOS ONE reveal that immunizing school-aged children from flu can help to protect other segments of the population, as well.

"The effect of school-based vaccination was profound, both on the students and on the community," said lead study author Cuc Tran, a doctoral student in public health at UF and a lead author in the study, in a news release.

As it stands, an estimated 38 million school days are lost to the flu. For this study, researchers found that when half of of 5- to 17-year-old children in Alachua County were vaccinated through a school-based program, the entire age group's flu rates decreased by 79 percent. Strikingly, the rate of influenza-like illness among 0-4 year olds went down 89 percent, despite the fact that this group was not included in the school-based vaccinations. Among all non-school-aged residents, rates of influenza-like illness decreased by 60 percent.

The study results help researchers determine how to effectively fund, dose or flu vaccine along with awareness campaigns to protect the most people from this virus that kills thousands of people each year in the United States, alone. Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate an annual cost of $10.4 billion in hospitalizations and outpatient visits related to flu.

The UF study shows that getting school-aged kids immunized can pay dividends throughout the community, according to Dr. Parker Small Jr., a co-founder of the study and a professor emeritus in UF's Emerging Pathogens Institute.

"Flu is the last pandemic killer of mankind," Small said. "Just look at all of the energy devoted to thinking and planning about Ebola. If that same energy was put into flu, you could be saving thousands of lives and billions of dollars."

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