We are deep into the season of sick children, a period in which all parents are once again faced with a familiar state of helplessness: watching your feverish child shiver under the covers with no help other than another dose of Tylenol; dragging him to a crowded emergency room to try to find out if his unknown virus already has a name and, in the best of cases, a treatment; try to convince him to drink just a little more Gatorade… please, even a sip.
That is why it is worrying that there are more and more parents who do not control the situation at least to some extent by vaccinating their children against the flu. While adults were vaccinated this fall at about the same rate as the previous two years, children are lagging behind.
As of November 4 (the most recent data), only 32.6% of the child population had received the flu vaccine, compared to 36.5% in 2022. It is the lowest percentage in the last 5 years, caused by about 12 states in which compliance with pediatric flu vaccination is downright disastrous.
There is still time to raise those numbers. Although doctors usually advise getting a flu vaccine by the end of October in case the virus begins to circulate early, we still have many months of possible spread. The full effect of this vaccine begins to be noticed after only two weeks from the moment it is given, which means that the next two weeks are a crucial period to be well protected during the holidays. Additionally, infection numbers are beginning to rebound.
Vaccinating children is not just about protecting them from serious diseases. It’s also about protecting your grandparents. While evidence on the role of children in the spread of Covid-19 has been conflicting, a wealth of data shows that children sneezing and coughing are the main driver of flu spread. A notable study in Japan showed that vaccinating children can prevent deaths among the elderly.
Older people are the key population to protect. While the United States tends to see the highest levels of flu vaccination among older people, that group remains the most at risk. More than 70% of the 21,401 flu deaths in the US last season occurred among people 65 and older. This is because our immune system tends to mount a less robust response to the flu vaccine as we age. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that people 65 and older receive a high-dose vaccine, but the elderly still rely on a high vaccination rate among the rest of the population. the population to stop the spread. That’s why the CDC has set a goal of a 70% vaccination rate, although unfortunately we are now well below that figure.
There is no single, simple explanation for the drop in vaccination rates, but this year, the chaos of the early commercial rollout of the Covid-19 and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) vaccines certainly didn’t help. Pediatricians’ offices, where most children tend to be vaccinated, were the last to get their hands on Covid-19 shots (and many still don’t have the RSV vaccine for babies). That delay in access could have slowed flu vaccine uptake, as parents prefer to do everything in one visit.
Another potential problem is understaffing in primary care offices, which appear to have fewer vaccination clinics than in previous years, says Sean O’Leary, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Colorado.
Then there are the doubts about vaccines. Skepticism about Covid-19 vaccines could be affecting attitudes about other childhood vaccines, including the flu vaccine. In January, alarming data showed that the number of kindergartners who are up to date on their routine vaccinations against diseases such as measles and polio declined for the third year in a row. But the lack of complete data makes it difficult to pinpoint what role it might be playing in this year’s flu season.
For example, data from the Pew Research Center shows that confidence in childhood vaccines remains reasonably stable after the pandemic. But regional data suggests the story is more nuanced. In an article published last month, O’Leary analyzed the results of a survey of new parents in Colorado that showed more uncertainty about vaccines. And although the number of committed skeptics has not increased, those skeptics have become more strident. As with so many other issues, vaccines have become polarizing.
Consider the low levels of pediatric flu vaccination in Florida, where Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis and his surgeon general have actively discouraged those under 65 from receiving the Covid-19 vaccine. In that state, only 24.2% of children have received the flu vaccine, compared to 28.6% at this time last year, when the state was also among the worst in the country in pediatric flu vaccines. That pattern is repeated in a handful of southern states that, like Florida, are meanwhile experiencing high flu activity.
Having granular state-level data on parents’ attitudes about vaccination could help counter some of that rhetoric. One good idea, recently presented in the journal Pediatrics by two researchers who study vaccine hesitancy, would be to put resources into a national system that tracks vaccine trust and hesitancy in real time and by state. That could allow experts to identify pockets where mistrust is growing and design strategies to combat it before it takes hold.
In the meantime, it’s not too late to get your child vaccinated. There is still time for children (and their grandparents) to take advantage of its benefits.
This note does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or of Bloomberg LP and its owners.
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2023-12-03 15:57:53
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