Children could have flu jab on the NHS in six months

March 27, 2007

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=440977 & in_page_id=1774 Children could have flu jab on the NHS in six months By Jenny Hope, Medical Correspondent - More by this author » Last updated at 23:16pm on 8th March 2007 Comments

(13) Children a priority: The Government is considering whether routine flu jabs should be given to young children Email newsletter Dr David Salisbury, who works for the Department of Health, said immunising youngsters against the virus was "a top priority" for the Government. Those hit hardest by flu - including the over-65s and children with medical conditions, such as asthma - already receive free jabs. But the UK could now follow the U.S.,

which offers vaccinations to all children aged between six months and five years. The scheme was introduced to cut flu transmission and cases in both children and adults. Last year almost 6.2 million Britons received the flu jab, including 74 per cent of the over-65s and 10 per cent of children. In 2005, six babies under one and five children between one and four died from the virus. Many parents say they are already concerned about the number of vaccinations given to their children. Before the age of five, the average child will receive around 12 injections. But Dr Salisbury said official figures show that when children are vaccinated, fewer adults get infected. He explained: "We need to find good data on efficiency and whether they benefit personally." Last month governmentadvisors said it was unclear if the cost of vaccinating

children against the flu would prove costeffective. The expert advisory body, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has also rejected calls to give the jab to all children. Dr Salisbury said the last three years had been 'extraordinarily quiet years' for seasonal flu and warned it has not gone away. Experts have predicted a global pandemic - with avian flu being marked as a possible trigger. Dr Salisbury said: "I would not put my money on flu dying out. It's a biological phenomenon. "I think we will get a shock some time in the future." Public health doctors say the debate over giving the flu vaccine to children will intensify with the arrival of a new generation of live attenuated vaccines, a weakened form of the virus. These can be given via the nose and are more suitable for children. They

have been licensed in the U.S. but not in Europe. Dr Salisbury said the proposed flu jab would have to be given in two doses each year to achieve an acceptable level of protection. This is because young children have not been previously exposed to flu viruses, so need a top-up to prime the immune system. "Get off your ass and take your government back." ~Rocky Ward

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March 27, 2007

Let's be honest. Almost all Americans would routinely have their children jabbed and injected for any and everything "that experts tell them are good for them". All the packaged "For Your Health" type segments which are marketed to TV stations do nothing but promote big pharma, more injections, and non-critical thinking. I look at things differently: if the "best experts" tell me to take some new drug or I need some new wonderful injection, I hear alarm bells going off.

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