If you have been paying attention to what’s been in the news during the past year or so, there has been a resurgence of articles getting media attention regarding those who are vaccine hesitant and question the importance of getting children vaccinated despite the myriad of evidence-based studies that document that there is no more important contribution to child health when it comes to preventing serious illness and saving lives. This week, we release two studies that further underscore vaccine effectiveness.
The first of these studies, by Flannery et al. (10.1542/peds.2016-4244), looks at the effectiveness of the influenza vaccine in preventing pediatric deaths over a five-year period (2010-2014). The authors note that there is a much greater risk of death from influenza by not getting vaccinated than in those children who had been vaccinated. They also demonstrate the role of the vaccine in reducing mortality in children with high risk and low-risk conditions.
The second study, by Baxter et al. (10.1542/peds.2016-4091), focuses on the effectiveness of vaccinating pregnant women to prevent infant pertussis. The authors share the results of a retrospective cohort study looking at 148,981 infants born at older than 37 weeks gestation and then studying this cohort for whether or not maternal pertussis vaccination was protective in the first 2 months of life. The results are highly convincing in showing how protective the maternal pertussis vaccine is against infant pertussis especially in those early months before babies are vaccinated, reinforcing the import of mothers getting a booster vaccination during pregnancy.
Both of these studies add further evidence to and make some sharp points about the strength of vaccinations when it comes to prevention of serious illness—not just for children but for pregnant mothers as well. Inject some effort in reading both and then share the results of these two studies as needed with your patients.
