Poor flu vaccine uptake in pre-school children as hospitalisations rise by 70%

Public health officials are urging parents of young children to take up the offer of flu vaccination amidst poor uptake and high rates of hospitalisation.

The latest data showed more than 200 children aged under five years were admitted to hospital in England with confirmed influenza last week (14 to 20 November).

Yet the uptake of the nasal flu vaccine among two and three-year-olds is down considerably on previous years at 30.9% and 32.9% respectively, the UK Health Protection Agency (UKHSA) said, which is around 11% lower than this point in previous years.

Vaccination in this group is particularly important because due to Covid-19 restrictions most young children have not encountered flu and will not have built up natural immunity.

The NHS is also facing increased pressures from adult cases of flu with latest figures showing a 40% jump in the number of patients in hospital with flu compared to the previous week, with an average of 482 flu cases in hospital a day, up from 344.

Anyone in this age bracket who has not already been invited by their surgery has been asked to contact their GP directly.

All primary and secondary school children are eligible with vaccinations being organised through schools, UKHSA said.

It follows warnings that this year’s flu season is likely to be severe and strike early.

Dr Conall Watson, consultant epidemiologist at UKHSA, said: ‘Young children are particularly vulnerable to becoming very poorly from flu. For the third week running we have seen hospitalisation rates among children under 5 jump up, with a 70% increase in just the last week.’

‘Flu is now circulating at higher levels than recent years and because of the pandemic restrictions most young children will not have encountered flu before. This means they will have no natural immunity and are therefore at even greater risk this year.’

Public health officials flagged the case of a two-year old boy whose parents are NHS consultants and wanted him to have the vaccine but could not attend the appointment offered and before they could reschedule, he became will and ended up being admitted to paediatric intensive care.

‘Even as NHS consultants, seeing your child in ICU is a terribly frightening experience. He was put under general anaesthetic and intubated, which involved inserting a tube into his throat so he was able to breathe.

‘His swab results came back showing he had Influenza type A. After 2 long agonising days of intubation in ICU, his condition improved and he began to recover. He is now home and doing well,’ his parents said urging others to get the flu vaccine as soon as possible.