Research has shown that children less than 5 years of age are at high risk of serious flu-related complications. It’s estimated that more than 20,000 children less than 5 years old are hospitalized due to flu each year in the U.S. Many more have to go to a doctor, an urgent care center, or the emergency room because of flu.
Complications from the flu can include pneumonia (an illness where the lungs get infected and inflamed), dehydration (when a child is too sick to drink enough fluids and its body loses too much water), worsening of long-term medical problems like heart disease or asthma, encephalopathy (inflammation of the brain), and sinus problems and ear infections. In rare cases, complications from the flu can lead to death.
Because children are at increased risk of getting severe illness from flu, CDC recommends that all children 6 months up to their 5th birthday get a flu vaccine every fall or winter. (Children under 9 getting a flu vaccine for the first time need two doses of vaccine in the first year.)
children younger than 6 months at higher risk
However, flu vaccine is not approved for use in children less than 6 months. Also, influenza antiviral drugs (prescription drugs used to treat and prevent flu) are not approved for use in children younger than 1 year. Because children younger than 6 months cannot get a vaccine or antiviral drugs, but are at high risk for serious flu-related complications, safeguarding them from influenza is especially important. This fact sheet provides advice to help caregivers (for example, parents, teachers, babysitters, nannies) protect children less than 6 months from the flu.
Source: Adapted from Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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