A research study found that the influenza vaccination is helpful in avoiding severe influenza disease, including hospitalization in children.

Having at least one dose of the influenza vaccination was judged to be more than 50% effective in protecting children from influenza-related ED and hospital visits, according to a study conducted by researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“Vaccination is one of the most effective ways to protect children against influenza and its complications, including severe illness and hospitalisation,” according to the paper’s authors.

“Improving vaccine uptake in children may reduce influenza illness and, subsequently, emergency department and hospital visits in a time of increased respiratory virus co-circulation,” they said.

The researchers analyzed data from 15,728 children who reported for treatment with acute respiratory disease between the ages of 6 months and 17 years for the study, which was published online in JAMA Network Open.

Approximately 17.2% of subjects tested positive for influenza, whilst 82.8% tested negative.

Children in both the influenza test-positive and test-negative groups received vaccinations in a total of 49.5% of cases.

It was estimated that the vaccine’s efficacy in avoiding influenza-related ED visits or hospitalizations was 55.7% among children of all ages who received at least one dose.

The estimated vaccination efficacy was comparable across severity levels, at 52.8, 52.3, and 50.4% for ED visits, noncritical hospitalization, and critical hospitalization, respectively.

Notably, children between the ages of 6 months and 8 years old, when they are most at risk for serious illness, had the greatest estimated efficiency of the influenza vaccination.

According to the authors, “these findings indicate that it is important for children to receive an annual influenza vaccine to protect against, during the influenza season, all levels of influenza illness severity, from ER visits to critical hospitalized illness.”