Published On: September 24, 2014184 words1.1 min readCategories: ArticleTags: ,

Share this story:

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is recommending that all children aged six months and older be vaccinated for the upcoming flu season.

The AAP updated their influenza vaccine recommendations to advise that the youngest children should have two initial doses of vaccine to build immunity, and it recommends that healthy children ages two to eight should get the nasal spray vaccine instead of the flu shot, if it’s readily available. However, the group states that the inactivated influenza vaccine should be given when the nasal spray is not readily available, and that no one should delay vaccination waiting for the nasal spray vaccine.

Last year, more than 100 children died from flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 90 percent of children treated for influenza in intensive care units weren’t vaccinated for flu last year, the AAP reported.

The new information—“Recommendations for Prevention and Control of Influenza in Children, 2014-2015”—was published in the October 2014 issue of Pediatrics, published online September 22.

For more information, visit the American Academy of Pediatrics website.