Flu Vaccine Keeps Connecticut Kids from Hospitals
After flu shot regulations upped Connecticut kids' vaccination rate, their hospitalization risk went down. Dina Fine Maron reports
By Dina Fine Maron
SUBSCRIBE TO 60-Second Health
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
Flu vaccination is proving itself among Connecticut’s tots.
In 2010 a state law went into effect that requires toddlers aged six months to 59 months to get flu shots if they attend child care. Similar rules for preschool soon followed. The new requirements boosted vaccination rates among Connecticut’s kids from 68 percent to 84 percent. And in the 2012–2013 flu season, flu-related hospitalizations among that group dropped by 12 percent. That’s the finding of a study in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. [James L. Hadler et al, Impact of Requiring Influenza Vaccination for Children in Licensed Child Care or Preschool Programs — Connecticut, 2012–13 Influenza Season]
The state had the biggest drop in flu hospitalizations of kids aged 4 and younger of 11 areas evaluated by the CDC.
All 50 states have some kinds of regulations for vaccinations among kids pre-school age. But so far, only New Jersey, Connecticut and New York City have green lighted such requirements for flu vaccinations.
With the flu shot apparently keeping so many kids out of the hospital, perhaps the other 48 states may consider it time to examine their own policies. A trip to the drug store for a vaccination beats a trip to the hospital any day.
—Dina Fine Maron
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism
Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.
When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.
Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber
