The inactivated flu vaccine does not appear to be effective in preventing influenza-related hospitalizations in children, especially the ones with asthma.
In fact, children who get the flu vaccine are more at risk for hospitalization than their peers who do not get the vaccine…
This study was aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the TIV [trivalent inactivated flu vaccine] in children overall, as well as the children with asthma, to prevent influenza-related hospitalization.
In order to determine whether the vaccine was effective in reducing the number of hospitalizations that all children, and especially the ones with asthma, faced over eight consecutive flu seasons, the researchers conducted a cohort study of 263 children who were evaluated at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota from six months to 18 years of age, each of whom had had laboratory-confirmed influenza between 1996 to 2006.
They found that children who had received the flu vaccine had three times the risk of hospitalization, as compared to children who had not received the vaccine.
In asthmatic children, there was a significantly higher risk of hospitalization in subjects who received the TIV, as compared to those who did not.