Influenza vaccination at all ages

When it comes to influenza, information from the authorities or the media often leaves  much to be desired. The emphasis is on the usefulness of the vaccine for the elderly (over 65), but the comparable risk group of very young children is ignored.   In contrast, the United States recommend vaccination every year from the age of six months. This practice has significantly reduced the frequency and severity of illnesses in daycare centers. The benefit goes beyond protection against influenza, a debilitating disease that promotes other infections later.   How does influenza spread during an epidemic? Largely through schools. Not vaccinating children gives the virus free rein and contributes to its spread. However, influenza is unpredictable: the danger is greater in certain age groups, or in individuals at risk, but it spares no one. Patients with no recognized vulnerability die of influenza at any age.   For example, Canadian doctors have reported the observation of healthy children of about twelve years old who died of the flu in a few days, some before even being hospitalized because the progression had been so rapid.   People give up the vaccine, explaining that the year they were vaccinated they had a particularly bad flu. This calls for several answers.   The virulence of influenza varies from year to year, but there is no reason to believe that the vaccine, whose side effects are rare and most often harmless, could lead to more serious illnesses. It is true that protection is often partial, attenuates the disease but does not prevent it. But a vaccinated person who had a bad flu might have died without the vaccine.   Covid 19 has made the situation even worse. Those who are unlucky enough to have both diseases at the same time are at significant risk.   During the winter epidemic, it is estimated that about one person in ten is affected. That is on average one flu every ten years. An annual vaccine is nevertheless recommended. Since viruses mutate and the vaccine must be adapted each year, one could conclude that it is useless 9 times out of 10, a simplistic but also inaccurate conclusion: a study compared people who were vaccinated each year to a control group that was not vaccinated. The first year, no difference appeared, to the astonishment of observers. The vaccine is not always adapted to the viruses in circulation and in this case one should not expect a notable benefit. But in the following years the advantage of vaccination became evident and increased each year, testifying to a cumulative effect.   This is what explains the encouraging observation of many of those who are vaccinated each year. They sometimes get the flu or think they have it, but it is short,  very mild,   often in the form of discomfort with  no or few other symptoms. What to do if you have the flu ?  Drinking a lot is useful. Fever helps fight  the virus and you should not try to normalize the temperature. Paracetamol (acetaminophen)  and after 12 years aspirin are justified above 39,5°C but ibuprofen increases the risk of bacterial complications requiring an antibiotic, seldom  necessary in vaccinated people. When is the right time to vaccinate? Ideally between mid-October and mid-November, but remains useful as long as the epidemic is ongoing. Protection is acquired about ten days after the injection. Since several different viruses are circulating, even those who have had the flu can benefit from the vaccine.