Family Immunity: Vaccinating Children Helps Protect Loved Ones

Vaccinating children reduces the incidence of influenza in family members where children live by 42%^[1][2]. In those who are vaccinated, the risk of getting sick can be reduced by 80%^[3]. Health care professionals discussed issues of influenza vaccination at the XV All-Russian annual congress "Infectious diseases in children: diagnostics, treatment and prevention" in St. Petersburg, as well as at the XI Eurasian Congress of pediatricians "Child and society: problems of health, development and nutrition" in Baku (Azerbaijan).

Vaccination against influenza is a reliable protection against severe forms of the disease, it reduces the risk of morbidity and mortality. A new WHO report^[4] calls for widespread vaccination to combat antibiotic resistance in infections. This would reduce the need for antibiotics by 22% and save millions of lives^[4].

Experts have calculated that in the 2023–2024 epidemic season, compared to the average long-term level, about 17.3% of those infected were hospitalized: most often, children aged 0 to 2 years (35.8% of all those infected) and 3 to 6 years (19.6%) required hospitalization, as well as elderly people over 65 years old (26.7%).^[5]

It’s not just children who need an influenza shot. Thus, immunization during pregnancy protects not only women, but also the unborn child. Transplacental antibodies are found in the blood of 76% of newborns whose mothers were vaccinated against influenza; in 25% of children they persist even at 6 months^[6].

The influenza vaccine protects against a wide range of complications: it reduces the risk of cardiovascular events, the likelihood of getting COVID-19 and having it in a severe form, reduces the chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease within 4 years after an episode of influenza by 40%, and almost halves the frequency of relapses in multiple sclerosis^[7][8][9].

Among modern influenza vaccines, speakers note adjuvant ones, which are characterized by high immunogenicity and a low dose of antigen in the composition. Grippol vaccines is one example of the immunobiological preparations that have proven themselves to be effective during vaccination campaigns.

Clinical studies have shown that in 93.5% of cases, the administration of Grippol^® Plus vaccine, approved for use from the age of 6 months, is asymptomatic and protects against influenza without increasing the incidence of intercurrent infections^[10]. It can be used, among other things, for vaccinating children with a complicated allergy history, as well as in combination with other vaccines included in the National Immunization Schedule^[11].

Vaccine Grippol^® Quadrivalent, which protects against four strains of the influenza virus, has a high prophylactic effect. It can also be used to immunize children: recent studies have shown that Grippol^® Quadrivalent and Grippol^® plus demonstrated comparable efficacy against influenza and acute respiratory viral infections within 6 months after vaccination in children aged 6 months to 5 years^[12].