CDC Increases Scope Of ‘Flu Shot’ Recommendation
By Rachel Abell
EL PASO — With the 2008 flu season drawing to a close, researchers with the Centers for Disease Control arealready making recommendations for the next year’s battle against the virus.
The CDC wants every child from six months old to 18 years to get a flu shot beginning in the fall of this year, a recommendation that would include 60 million children. The expansion would represent one of the largest vaccination increases in history.
School-aged children are specifically identified in the recommendation because, CDC officials say, schools are a veritable ‘hot zone’ for germ breeding and transmission. The influenza virus is especially harmful in children and some studies have suggested that vaccinating school children can reduce the spread of the viruses in the general population.
Some researchers believe, however, that vaccines can have an adverse affect on kids’ health, despite medical evidence to the contrary. This is just a preliminary recommendation, though it is expected to be adopted by the CDC before the new vaccination campaign begins in fall of 2008.
Currently, only those considered ‘high-risk’ are advised to receive flu shots such as children up to five years of age, adults over 50 and anyone with a compromised immune system. The new recommendation would mean an additional 30 million children would be advised to receive a vaccination.
