The effect of mass influenza immunization in children on the morbidity of the unvaccinated elderly

Abstract

SUMMARYThe objectives of these studies were to analyse the effect of mass influenza immunization in children on the morbidity of unvaccinated non-institutionalized elderly during an influenza epidemic. A mass vaccination campaign with vaccine was conducted in children aged 3–6 years attending kindergartens (57·4% of 6374) and aged 7–17 years attending schools (72% of 34 237) in two communities of the Moscow region. The clinical effectiveness of vaccination was 60·9% for kindergartens and 68·8% for schools. There were 3·4 times fewer episodes of influenza-like illnesses and 1·7–2·6 fewer episodes in all seven diseases which are possible complications of influenza out of the 10 evaluated diseases in 158 451 unvaccinated non-institutionalized elderly people during the influenza epidemic compared with the control communities. The differences were found to be statistically significant. Mass vaccination of children attending child institutions brought about a significant reduction of both influenza-like illnesses in children and influenza-associated illnesses in unvaccinated non-institutionalized elderly persons living in the home setting.