Receiving the influenza vaccination reduced the risk of hospitalization for complications linked to the flu by a little over 50 percent among children in Israel, according to a study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Israeli and American researchers gathered vaccination data for 3,746 pediatric hospital stays at six hospitals in Israel over three flu seasons: 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18. The children were 6 months to 8 years old.
Israel has the same vaccination recommendations as the U.S.: two flu vaccine doses for children up to age 8 years, who have either never been vaccinated before or have only received one dose.
The study shows that flu vaccination reduced hospitalizations associated with the flu by 54 percent.
"Children vaccinated according to government guidelines are much better protected from influenza than those who only receive one vaccine," said Hannah Segaloff, PhD, an epidemiologist at the School of Public Health at Ann Arbor-based University of Michigan, who co-led the study.
"Our results also showed that the vaccine was effective in three different seasons with different circulating viruses, reinforcing the importance of getting an influenza vaccine every year no matter what virus strain is circulating," she added.