tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
I was having a conversation with a friend of mine at the weekend, about whether she ought to find some way of having her young child vaccinated against swine flu.
It?s a question many GPs have faced from anxious parents too, and it?s not an easy one to answer. In fact, it?s impossible to give any sort of definitive answer, given the lack of consensus about the merits of a child vaccination campaign among the UK?s finest brains in paediatric immunology.
We learned last week that the flu sub-group of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation had recommended that GPs give all under-fives the vaccine, only to be overruled by the main committee.
Those experts apparently felt that the high rates of exposure to the H1N1 swine flu strain among children ? 62% in London and 43% in other parts of England ? rendered a national programme for those without risk factors unnecessary.
But their view can hardly be regarded as the final word either, given the criticism of it from some high-profile and apparently equally qualified experts, and the fact that the Government has asked the committee to think again for next year...
http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=20&storycode=4128248&c=2
It?s a question many GPs have faced from anxious parents too, and it?s not an easy one to answer. In fact, it?s impossible to give any sort of definitive answer, given the lack of consensus about the merits of a child vaccination campaign among the UK?s finest brains in paediatric immunology.
We learned last week that the flu sub-group of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation had recommended that GPs give all under-fives the vaccine, only to be overruled by the main committee.
Those experts apparently felt that the high rates of exposure to the H1N1 swine flu strain among children ? 62% in London and 43% in other parts of England ? rendered a national programme for those without risk factors unnecessary.
But their view can hardly be regarded as the final word either, given the criticism of it from some high-profile and apparently equally qualified experts, and the fact that the Government has asked the committee to think again for next year...
http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=20&storycode=4128248&c=2