If the United States were to launch an annual influenza-vaccination program among the nation's school children, resources also should go to evaluate the program's success in reducing community-wide flu transmission, according to a "Policy Forum" editorial in Science authored by researchers based at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Performing such an evaluation would be a crucial step in laying the groundwork to help the nation stage an organized response to a flu pandemic, assert M. Elizabeth Halloran, M.D., D.Sc., and Ira M. Longini Jr., Ph.D., both members of the Hutchinson Center's Public Health Sciences Division and professors of biostatistics at the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine.
"The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and several states are considering recommending annual influenza vaccination in groups beyond the currently recommended high-risk groups," the authors write. "This offers an opportunity that should not be missed: to conduct a nationwide study of the effectiveness of vaccinating school children against influenza as a means of reducing community transmission." The 15-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices advises the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the most effective means to prevent vaccine-preventable diseases.