Influenza Vaccination 2024–2025: CAV-AEP Recommendations

Content

● CAV-AEP recommendations for the 2024–2025 influenza campaign. (cm.). ● Rationale for influenza vaccination (see). ● Vaccination of healthy children against influenza in the calendars of autonomous entities (see). ● Summary of CAV-AEP recommendations for the 2024–2025 influenza season. (cm.). ● Infographic summarizing flu vaccinations for 2024-2025. (cm.). ● Influenza vaccines for pediatric use in the 2024–2025 season. (cm.). ● More detailed information on this website (see).

In a nutshell

● CAV-AEP is releasing influenza vaccination recommendations for the upcoming 2024-2025 season, which begins next October. ● In the 2024–2025 season, universal influenza vaccination of infants and children aged 6 to 59 months will be carried out in all autonomous okrugs and cities. ● In addition to this note, there is a dedicated website and extensive technical support document that is freely accessible. ● Also included is an infographic summarizing recommendations and available pediatric vaccines. ● For children 2 years of age and older and adolescents up to 17 years of age, the preferred vaccine is the intranasal vaccine.

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CAV-AEP recommendations for the 2024–2025 influenza campaign.

Every year before the start of the influenza season, the Vaccine Advisory Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (CAV-AEP) publishes its recommendations for influenza vaccination in childhood and adolescence.

This note provides a summary of vaccination recommendations for the season starting next October 2024.

The full version can be found at this link, where you can also find a white paper (PDF, 39 pages) supporting the current recommendations.

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Rationale for influenza vaccination

Influenza is an ongoing threat and a major public health problem with significant socioeconomic consequences. It is responsible for nearly a million serious cases in children under 5 years of age worldwide. During the COVID-19 pandemic, global influenza incidence has been very low, due in part to restrictive social interaction measures. After their decline, the incidence rate rose again to pre-pandemic levels, and in some countries even exceeded them.

The proportion of the child population affected during annual influenza epidemics generally ranges from 30 to 40%, with children being the main vectors of the disease in society.

The influenza vaccine is the most effective form of influenza prevention, and since 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) and regulatory authorities in many countries have recommended that children aged 6 to 59 months be given priority for vaccination. Consistent with recommendations from WHO and other organizations, CAV-AEP has for several years recommended universal influenza vaccination of children aged 6 to 59 months. Since 2023, the Interterritorial Council of the Spanish National Health System (CISNS) has supported this vaccination. Currently, more than 70 countries have a systematic annual influenza vaccination program for children.

In addition, we believe that influenza vaccination of children older than this age who are not included in risk groups is also recommended, since this preventive practice provides children and adolescents with individual protection and contributes to the protection of families and communities.

Influenza vaccination is an intervention particularly indicated for children and adults in populations considered at risk and those living with them due to their greater vulnerability to developing complex and more severe forms of the disease. However, many children and adolescents belonging to these groups continue to miss this annual vaccination for various reasons, as do their partners. Medical personnel play a very important role in recommending vaccination in general and at-risk groups in particular, which is an important element in the decision to receive influenza vaccination.

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Vaccination of healthy children against influenza in the calendars of autonomous entities

The Ministry of Health’s 2024 Unified Lifetime Vaccination Schedule includes for the first time a recommendation for universal influenza vaccination of infants and children aged 6 to 59 months, as well as certain risk groups of any age from 6 years. age. In Spain, three autonomous communities (Galicia, Andalusia and Murcia) included it in their 2022–2023 vaccination campaign, and they all did so in the 2023–2024 campaign.

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Summary of CAV-AEP recommendations for the 2024–2025 influenza season.

For children and adolescents, CAV-AEP recommends influenza vaccination:

• All children are from 6 to 59 months.
• All children and adolescents from 5 to 18 years old (individual recommendation*).
• Risk groups: children 6 months of age and older and adolescents in certain situations or with underlying medical conditions that pose an increased risk of developing influenza complications.
• People from 6 months living with patients at risk.
• People from 6 months living with children under 6 months.
• All medical workers.
• Pregnant women, both for their own safety and for the safety of their unborn child, at any time during pregnancy.

* CAV-AEP believes that health authorities should consider vaccinating children and adolescents aged 6 months to 18 years systematically, especially children aged 6 to 59 months, but given the disappointing coverage of influenza vaccination in this age group, we believe that all available measures should be taken by public health authorities, medical personnel and scientific societies to achieve the primary goal of increasing coverage in this group, and that once this goal has been achieved, efforts should be concentrated not only on maintaining this coverage, but also on expanding systematic coverage. flu vaccination for children and adolescents from 6 to 18 years of age.

In children 2 years of age and older, the vaccine of choice is the attenuated intranasal vaccine.

►More information can be found on the dedicated website dedicated to influenza vaccination recommendations for the 2023–2024 season and the white paper supporting these recommendations.

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Infographic summarizing flu vaccinations 2024-2025.

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Influenza vaccines for children in the 2024–2025 season.

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More information on this website

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