A survey conducted by Ministry of Health of the Region of Murcia confirm the excellent safety of influenza vaccination in children. The Ministry’s Vaccination Program is carrying out a study in which it is evaluating, through a survey sent via mobile phone, the appearance of Adverse events associated with influenza vaccination in children aged 6 to 59 months.
In a first analysis carried out after 3,754 surveys completedit has been shown that both the intramuscular vaccine, given to children aged 6 to 23 months, and the intranasal vaccine, given to children aged less than 2, 3 and 4 years, They are very safe vaccines.
The Ministry of Health underlines the importance of continue influenza vaccination in children 6 to 59 months, as it is foreseeable that the maximum incidence will occur after the Christmas dates. The flu vaccine protects against influenza and other infections such as pneumonia or group A strep infections, which has been a cause for concern in other countries and other autonomous communities.
According to the survey, in children aged 6 to 23 months, to whom the vaccine is administered intramuscularly, the most frequent adverse effect is puncture site painwhich appears in one in three minors, although it is important to know that it is a short-term pain.
In almost all cases, this pain lasted less than two days and In no case did he need to consult a health professional.. Secondly, the most frequently appearing adverse effect is general discomfort. As for fever, if it did appear, it was in most cases of low grade and of short duration.
Referring to intranasal vaccine administered to minors from 24 to 59 months, it should be remembered that the Region of Murcia is the only one that is administering it, it is very safe and avoids bites to minors.
As for the safety of the vaccine, it has been proven that the most frequently reported adverse effect is runny or runny nose in the following days, It happened in four out of ten children. However, it is a symptom that causes little distress to minors, as less than two per cent have consulted a healthcare professional about this distress.
The following frequent side effects are decreased appetite or feeling unwell, They are also transitory and do not significantly affect the daily life of minors. The treatments that parents most need to administer to minors who have some adverse effect, due to any of the vaccines administered, are paracetamol and ibuprofen.
It should be noted that parents do not consider these serious adverse effects, since only less than two percent of respondents would not re-vaccinate their children due to the side effects that have arisen. The flu vaccine administration web appointment is available for this age group at https://sms.carm.es/cmap/.
