The illness that put 10,000 children in hospital last winter - and how to avoid it
16.09.2023 - 16:24
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
One illness caused 10,000 children to end up in hospital last winter - and NHS leaders are warning that families should take up one crucial way of avoiding it.
Flu rebounded last winter after being kept low since March 2020 by Covid-19 control measures. Nationally, over 10,000 children were hospitalised last winter due to the flu.
Preliminary analysis by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) found that deaths linked to flu last winter were the highest since 2017-18. Vaccination effectiveness data from last year showed that the vaccines reduced the risk of hospitalisations by two thirds.
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The annual NHS flu vaccination programme for children aged two to three, school-age children and children over six months with certain health conditions is now underway in the region. NHS leaders are calling on north west parents to ensure that children are able to get their flu vaccine.
The NHS is asking parents to ensure children’s consent forms are completed, and that eligible pre-schoolers are booked in for appointments at the GP practice, to stop the spread of flu this autumn and winter. More than one million children across the region in school years Reception to Year 11 are eligible for the flu vaccine in the form of a nasal spray, delivered in schools by immunisations teams.
Children aged two and three (on or before 31 August) are eligible for the free nasal spray via their GP practice. Children aged between six months and two years with a long-term health condition that makes them at higher risk from flu will be offered a flu vaccine injection instead of the nasal spray.
This is because the nasal spray is not licensed for children under two years
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