The United States and Canada recently recommended influenza vaccines for healthy children as young as six months old. To assess the merits of this policy, researchers combed the planet for all significant influenza vaccine studies up to June 2004. In February 2005, Lancet published the results of their analysis. Researchers found no evidence that influenza vaccines prevent flu in children younger than 2 years old. In addition, there was Ano convincing evidence that [flu] vaccines can reduce mortality, hospital admissions, serious complications and community transmission of influenza. There was also little evidence that flu vaccines could reduce secondary cases, lower respiratory tract disease or acute otitis media. According to the lead researcher, Aimmunization of very young children is not lent support by our findings.

In 2006, researchers working for The Cochrane CollaborationCan objective, independent well-respected source of scientific evidenceCanalyzed all relevant influenza vaccine trials conducted on children worldwide, totaling 51 studies involving more than 260,000 children. They determined that in healthy children older than two years of age, the live flu vaccine was just 33 percent effective; the inactivated influenza vaccine was just 36 percent effective. In healthy children under two years of age, the efficacy of the inactivated flu vaccine Awas similar to placebo. The lead author of the review, Dr. Tom Jefferson, expressed his concern regarding American influenza vaccine policies: AWe just cannot understand how you can vaccinate millions of small children in the absence of convincing scientific evidence that the vaccines make any difference.

In October 2008, Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine published a study that analyzed influenza vaccine effectiveness in children 6 months to 5 years of age. The study was conducted over two consecutive flu seasons. Authors of the study concluded that they “could not demonstrate vaccine effectiveness” at reducing influenza-related doctor or hospital visits.

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