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Are Your Kids at High Risk for Flu Complications?

Everyone should get a flu vaccine each year, as long as they are at least six months old and have no true contraindications.

Everyone needs a flu shot. When will you get yours?
Everyone needs a flu shot. When will you get yours? Photo by Gabriel Saldana (CC BY-SA 2.0)

That has been the recommendation since at least the 2010-11 flu season.

And while most kids get vaccinated, not all do.

Are Your Kids at High Risk for Flu Complications?

There are some kids, those at high risk for flu complications, who definitely shouldn’t skip or delay their flu vaccine.

  • all children aged 6 through 59 months (younger than age 5 years);
  • children who have chronic medical conditions, including pulmonary (such as asthma and cystic fibrosis), cardiovascular (excluding isolated hypertension), genetic (Down syndrome), renal, hepatic, neurologic (cerebral palsy, epilepsy, stroke, muscular dystrophy, and spina bifida, etc.), hematologic (sickle cell disease), or metabolic disorders (including diabetes mellitus and mitochondrial disorders);
  • children who are immunocompromised due to any cause (including immunosuppression caused by medications or by HIV infection);
  • teens who are or will be pregnant during the influenza season;
  • children and adolescents (aged 6 months through 18 years) who are receiving aspirin- or salicylate-containing medications (like for Kawasaki disease) and who might be at risk for experiencing Reye syndrome after influenza virus infection;
  • residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities;
  • American Indians/Alaska Natives;
  • children who are extremely obese (body mass index ≥40).

You also shouldn’t skip or delay getting a flu vaccine if your:

  • kids are household contacts of children aged ≤59 months (i.e., aged <5 years) and adults aged ≥50 years, particularly contacts of children aged <6 months;
  • kids are household contacts of someone with a medical condition that puts them at higher risk for severe complications from influenza.

Again, since everyone should get a flu vaccine, these higher risk classes shouldn’t determine whether or not you vaccinate your kids, but they might influence the timing.

Again, don’t skip your child’s flu vaccine because they aren’t in a flu high risk group.

In most flu seasons, about 80% of children with the flu who die are not vaccinated. And many of them will be otherwise healthy, without an underlying high risk medical condition.

Get your child vaccinated against the flu. And if they are in a high risk group, make sure you do it well before flu season starts and maybe as soon as flu vaccine becomes available in your area.

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