Parental concerns reduce uptake of child flu vaccine

The first study investigating parental attitudes towards the UK's child flu vaccine has found concerns about safety and side effects may negatively influence uptake, and recommends that public health messages need to be reinforced. Led by King's College London and published today in Vaccine , the research shows that not having the vaccine was associated with concerns about its safety, short-term side effects and long-term health problems. Parents who saw a side effect in their child the previous year were also less likely to want to vaccinate their child again the following year. These findings are despite increasing evidence that vaccination is the best option available for protecting families and others in the community from flu during the winter. The researchers hope the results will help improve public health messages about the child flu vaccine, in order to increase uptake. In 2012 the British Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended that the flu vaccine programme be extended to include children aged two to sixteen, in an attempt to limit the number of children who suffer from complications of flu and to reduce illness and death among adults who may contract flu from children. The researchers from King's College London worked with Ipsos MORI to survey 1,001 members of the public.