# 2203
Children are often a prime vector for respiratory illnesses.
One need only look in at any daycare facility or school to see a wide range of sniffles, snuffles, and coughs. And of course, children readily spread these viruses amongst themselves, and to adults as well.
If one kid in school gets a cold, or the `flu', you can bet that a lot of others won't be far behind.
The proposal has been made that, by routinely vaccinating children against influenza, the amount of flu circulating in a community can be drastically reduced.
Here is an article from the London Telegraph, detailing this proposal. Follow the link for the full article.
Vaccinating all children under 16 could cut flu cases 'by up to 97 per cent'
Flu could be virtually wiped out if all under 16s were vaccinated against the disease, a new report suggests.
By Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent
Last Updated: 4:00PM BST 04 Aug 2008
Giving every baby and schoolchild in England and Wales the jab could reduce cases of the main strains of the disease by up to 97 per cent, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) estimates.
Ensuring that all babies between the ages of six months and two years received a flu shot could cut the number of cases by between one tenth and a fifth, according to the analysis.
The HPA estimates are based on preventing the two main strains of the virus, known as Influenza A and Influenza B, thought to be responsible for nine out of 10 flu cases in Britain.
However, the agency said that it was not yet advocating the widespread use of the vaccine in young people and described the results as "preliminary".
Experts estimate that influenza contributes to the death of more than 12,000 people in Britain every year and around 15 million Britons are given an annual flu jab in an attempt to prevent the disease and the complications it can cause.
Currently the elderly and those most at risk, such as asthma sufferers or those with heart disease, receive the jab while a number of companies also offer workplace-based vaccination programmes.
However, many adults are thought to initially contract the illness from children.
Of course, all of this is theoretical at this point.
And there would be likely be resistance by many parents. Childhood vaccinations are generally very safe, but there have been rare instances where children were harmed by vaccines.
There are many who subscribe to the idea that autism is caused by the addition of thimerosal, which contains 50% mercury, as a preservative in vaccines. While no causal link has ever been established, the fear persists in many parents.
So far, the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has not endorsed the idea of vaccinating all children.
For now, this remains a proposal.
Albeit an interesting one.
