The high percentage of minors vaccinated against influenza in the province of Córdoba, with the vaccination campaign that has just started, shows the awareness of parents in this regard. However, there is a part of the population who considers “risk” inoculate healthy children with the virus (which was implemented a few seasons ago) and be wary of side effects. In this regard, the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs warns that the real risk lies precisely in not doing so.
As indicated in its Andalusian Vaccination Plan (Andavac), it is the child population that suffers more cases of flu every fall-winter. Furthermore, each year, “a number of boys and girls have to be admitted to hospital due to complications which causes the flu. “The vast majority are healthy miners, without underlying pathologies.”
National data published by the Ministry of Health published in October 2022 highlights, among other things, that in many seasons, children under 5 years old they enter more than any other age groupeven more than those over 65. For example, in the pre-pandemic season (2019-2020), 52 children under 5 were hospitalized per 100,000, while those over 65 were admitted at a rate of 40 per 100,000.
Furthermore, in the 6 years preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, in Spain, on average each year, influenza caused serious problems in children under 5 years old: 239 were hospitalized; 822 were hospitalized for serious complications; 249 were treated in pediatric intensive care and 8 died.
On the other hand, according to Health, it has been shown with studies carried out in Andalusia that vaccination reduces up to 70% income hospitalizations due to influenza complications in children under 5 years old.
vectors of contagion
Children of preschool and school age are the main flu spreaders to the rest of the community. This is due to several facts, but above all to the fact that children have a viral load in their secretions are much larger and last longer than adults, in addition to the fact that they take less care in controlling cough and secretions.
In this sense, “vaccination of healthy children interrupts the chain of transmission and indirectly protects other members of the community, including the most vulnerable such as the elderly, immunocompromised people and children under 6 months.
Concerning the reliability of the vaccine, the Ministry of Health emphasizes that it is “on” and its side effects are similar to those of any vaccine administered on a routine schedule, particularly pain at the inoculation site and self-limiting fever.
