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CDC's aim is to vaccinate more kids this flu season

Infection Control Weekly Monitor, September 26, 2008

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“I should have got Emily a flu shot,” says a despairing mother in a video just posted on YouTube by the CDC. The video gives voice to families who have lost children to the flu.

This is just one more way for the CDC to get the message out: it is now recommending a flu shot for an estimated 30 million more children. Previously, the CDC recommended flu vaccine only for children under 5. Now, the government agency recommends every child age six months to 18 years be inoculated, unless they have an allergy.

The CDC expanded the age group because children are two to three times more likely to contract the flu than adults, as Renee Jenkins, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told CNN.

Health officials held a news conference in the nation’s capital earlier this week to urge people to get vaccinated and announced the formulation for the vaccine was revised this flu season to contain three new viral strains. Officials assured the public there is an ample supply of flu vaccine this season. The CDC’s goal is to vaccinate 261 million people this year.

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