Influenza Vaccination Rates In Children

In many ways, vaccinations are among the great success stories of modern medicine. The literature indicates the importance of promoting a culture of annual vaccination on a routine basis to protect patients and healthcare professionals from morbidity and mortality. The data provided can be used to educate healthcare workers and improve the health outcomes of their employees and patients. According to the research, the figures may help administrators of health facilities incorporate policies to raise the proportion of their staff to comply with the influenza immunization (Shahar et al., 2016). Future protocols and intervention programs should be constructed and advertise the success among those who received the vaccination yearly. Compliance

The early year’s reported on were not very expansive with less than 1000 patients being tracked. However beginning in the year 2008 we had well over a 1000 reports being made and on average the vaccine effectiveness rate averages 46 percent. The worst season during this period was in 2014-2015 where it rang in at only 19 percent effectiveness. This season the “flu vaccine did not protect against drifted H3N2 viruses, but protected against vaccine-like H3N2 and B viruses.” (CDC, 2015) So this goes back to our vaccine effectiveness factors and specifically points to the second note stating that the vaccine must be well-matched. In this case the most prevalent influenza A strain changed and the vaccine manufacturers were unable to predict this. So by this comparative data it seems that the 2016-2017 influenza fell in-line with previous year’s

The California state parent-teacher association (PTA) is a group that is formed to facilitate parental participation in a school. In this policy, the PTA will be the best and appropriate group that can help with the introduction and implementation of the policy. The issue on flu disease, and how it affects the overall health of the community has been a discussion for a long period of time. The CDC has recommended the influenza vaccination to the school-aged children since 2008. Information about this ongoing health issue is available on most health and government website, health magazines and health television programs. The majority members of the organization are the parents and teachers of the school-age children; the health and safety

The graph above shows that, children within the 1-4 years age group have the highest rate of illness in comparison to the other age groups, which demonstrates a slow rate of illness. However, the overall rate ofInfluenza-like-Illness per 100,000 population of England is 19 people, this figure increase to 39 and 43 for age groups less than 1 year olds and the age group 1-4 year old respectively. A potential explanation to why children in smaller age groups develop the influenza virus is because of the undeveloped immune system therefore more likely to be vulnerable to the influenza because their bodies are unable to fight the virus. In addition, adults within the

Spring of 2009 in the US, there was an appearance of widespread influenza A (pH1N1) which affected school aged children of ages 18 years and younger. It is critical to understand the appearance of the influenza virus and the factors in the population because children play an important role in the spread of influenza virus. The school year of 2009-2010, we assessed several of the Pennsylvania Influenza Sentinel School Monitoring System (PISSMS). They are a voluntary system of schools that reports data regarding absenteeism and trips to the school nurse for influenza-like illnesses (ILI). Contributors included participating schools and nonparticipating schools to evaluate representativeness. Participating schools provided data regarding absenteeism

Most children, however, are required to get a measles vaccine to attend school, but not necessarily a flu vaccine. The measles outbreak in Disneyland spurted outcry to protect our children against measles, although there are always numerous flu outbreaks every year. Noticing this, David Ropeik wrote his op-ed piece “Stop Fussing over Measles Vaccination Rates. Start Worrying about Flu Shots” towards the end of 2015. It is here where Ropeik offers a compelling, yet structurally flawed, argument to focus on influenza over measles.

Councilmen and councilwomen, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in collaboration with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention are the leading research agencies on vaccinations within our nation with a primary functional objective at reducing curable communicable diseases thorough early child hood vaccinations. According to the CDC, “influenza A (H3N2) viruses were prominent death rates were more than double what they were during seasons when influenza A (H1N1) or influenza B viruses predominated (CDC), yet, school requirements within the jurisdiction of California required no such vaccination/s, protection/s, and/or “blanket of security” for others, prior to the enrollment as a student (CDC). What we do know is that children are exposed to the normality’s of fever, coughs, and sore throats, yet, these symptoms are directly related to the onset of

People have already devoted their lives to researching ways new ways to protect the public against disease, and as time passes even more people will find that this is their passion as well. It is important that parents take advantage of modern medical technology for their own children so that the general population is as protected as possible. The major healthcare companies that have done research, have tested, and who have advocated for the use of vaccines are on the side of the public, and have dedicated their lives to protecting the lives of other people. One child can cause an infectious outbreak to begin, while at the same time one child becoming vaccinated can also prevent an outbreak from happening. This fact, as well as the possibilities that vaccines hold for the general population in the future are reason enough for why parents must make sure that their children are vaccinated as soon as

Influenza (the flu) "is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses" (Seasonal flu basics, 2011, CDC). For some individuals, the symptoms of influenza are no worse than the common cold. However, for other individuals, particularly the elderly, the very young, and persons with compromised immune systems, influenza can be deadly. Flu prevention is best achieved through seasonal vaccination. Because the flu strain can change seasonally, or even within a season due to antigenic drift, yearly vaccination is essential for as many people as possible within a given population who can tolerate the vaccine (Seasonal flu basics, 2011, CDC)..

The protection of individual liberties that persists today is wider than before in public healthcare. Since the firsts vaccinations were developed in 1885 through 1930 morbidity and mortality has decreased significantly. During time with this eradication, compulsory vaccination has been a debate during decades in US society. However, this issue today has become an argument to deny school admission for children nationwide for not having the vaccination prescribed by the law. According to Oreinstein & Yang (2015) “Vaccination policy authority is predicated on using the best available evidence and minimizing intrusion on individual freedoms. This balance must continue to inform policymaking from development of vaccine recommendations to establishment and evaluation of mandates.” With this guideline there is a line where government cannot cross into a personal decisions of the population. This requirements is not limited the nine basic vaccination, but

The influenza virus continues to burden communities across the nation and vaccination has been established as an invaluable prevention measure in efforts to control the infectious disease. The efficacy of the influenza vaccine is reliant on accessible vaccines which provide protection against relevant seasonal viral strains and an adequate supply to meet population needs. There has been occasions which resulted in vaccine shortages and led to inadequate supplies to meet the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended vaccination administration guidelines. The CDC recommends that all individuals aged six months old and greater, unless contraindicated, should be vaccinated annual with the seasonal influenza vaccine (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). The national target for influenza vaccination annually are 70% and 90% for all age groups and health care professionals, respectively, according to the Healthy People 2020 objectives (Healthy People 2020, n.d.). Public health agencies play an imperative role in the response mobilization and preparedness activities related to vaccine shortage in efforts to mitigate the associated risks. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of public health chain of command in response to influenza vaccine shortage, the implications on medical care, and potential effects of disclosure to the public.

King et al. (2006) conducted a study on the effect of vaccinations during influenza season on children. This study was designed to “compare the effect of school-based vaccination on schoolchildren and their household members, regardless of the vaccination status of individual students.” The researchers conducted the study by selecting 24 public elementary schools in Maryland, Texas, Minnesota, and 4 parochial schools in Washington state. They then proceeded to group the schools in clusters based on ethnic background and socioeconomic status. From there, one school was selected

Their major findings were that total illness episodes, school days missed, work days missed by parents, and subsequent illnesses among household members significantly increased when the Influenza virus circulated in the community. The researchers also hope that this data would aid pediatric healthcare providers and parents when deciding whether to immunize their child with the flu vaccine. The weakness of the study is that the study did not expand to other grades of the school system; they only focused on elementary school children. One strength of this study is that it evaluates the effect of influenza illness on the quality of life in school-aged children and these types of studies were unavailable in 2002.

In this paper we review the science and history of influenza as well as the science, history and development of the influenza vaccines. We then discuss the stringent process required by law in order to test vaccines before they reach the population. We look at the efficacy studies conducted by the CDC, and conflicting views of geneticists highly involved in vaccine safety. Finally, we present an overall assessment of the efficacy of the influenza vaccine, and leave to the reader, the level of efficacy the influenza vaccine has actually achieved.

Every year, a shocking 5% to 20% of the American population contract the Influenza virus.