Reducing Flu in Pre-school Children

Impact of Requiring Influenza Vaccination for Children Attending Licensed Childcare or Preschool Programs — Connecticut, 2012–13 Influenza Season

Preschool-aged children are at high risk for serious consequences of influenza and should be vaccinated against influenza, especially those in settings where transmission is common such as child care facilities.

Effective January 2011, preschool-aged children in Connecticut were required to be vaccinated against influenza to attend licensed child care. Investigators from the Yale School of Public Health and the Connecticut Department of Public Health evaluated the effect of this requirement on vaccination rates and on hospitalizations of young children during the 2012-2013 influenza season. Vaccination rates in Connecticut rose more quickly and were higher than children in the rest of the United States. After the requirement was implemented, hospitalization rates for influenza in young children in Connecticut were lower compared with 10 other sites in the United States with similar monitoring.

Requiring influenza vaccination in children attending child care facilities appears to have contributed to lower hospitalization rates from influenza among young children in Connecticut.