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The nasal spray vaccine is 87% more effective in children aged two to 17 against the main circulating flu strain, influenza A(H1N1)pmd09,\u00a0 Public Health England data indicates. Meanline the flu vaccine is 39% effective against the same strain in adults aged 18 to 64.<\/p>\n
The data shows that more children than ever are being vaccinated although take-up is lower in younger age groups. Some 43% of two-year-olds have been vaccinated, compared with 45% of three-year-olds. Amongst school children 56% to 64% have been vaccinated. Last year’s final figures for the full flu season of 2017-18 showed that the vaccine was only 15% effective among all age groups. This included effectiveness of about 27% in children aged two to 17, 12% among people in at-risk groups aged 18 to 64, and 10% in those aged 65 and over.<\/p>\n
Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at PHE, said:<\/strong> “It is encouraging to see that this year’s vaccines are offering a high level of protection against the main circulating strain of flu – particularly for children.<\/p>\n
“Children tend to be ‘super-spreaders’ of flu and so protecting them is crucial for protecting the rest of the population.<\/p>\n
“We’re pleased that more parents have been taking up the offer of vaccination for their children and encourage anyone who is eligible to do so every winter.<\/p>\n
“It’s the best defence we have against this unpredictable virus.”<\/p>\n
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said:<\/strong> “The most basic instinct for any parent is to do whatever they can to protect their child. Vaccinations save countless lives and are absolutely vital.<\/p>\n
“More children have been vaccinated this year to protect against flu and it is a positive sign that the vaccine itself appears to be more effective than in previous years.<\/p>\n
“Our world-leading vaccination programme saves lives and I urge all parents of young children to make sure their child is vaccinated against flu and other childhood diseases.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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The flu vaccine is proving to be more effective in children than in adults in the UK. The nasal spray vaccine is 87% more effective in children aged two to 17 against the main circulating flu strain, influenza A(H1N1)pmd09,\u00a0 Public Health England data indicates. Meanline the flu vaccine is 39% effective against the same strain…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":11681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[251,5],"tags":[849,848],"class_list":["post-11679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-uk-news","tag-flu-vaccine","tag-flu-vaccine-working-better-for-children"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11679"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11682,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11679\/revisions\/11682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}