90 pc pediatric deaths occur owing to no vaccination: Doctors

At least 90% of the pediatric deaths occur in un-vaccinated children in the past years, said experts in the city on Thursday quoting bodies like CDC of USA.

Experts, under the banner of "Flu Ends with U" advised every child between the age of 2 and 14 to get vaccinated every year to prevent themselves from the disease.

Dr.Subhasis Roy, Ped Pulmonologist, Columbia Asia Hospital said, “Children are the future of any nation but heavy burden of Influenza may impair their daily life. They miss school and become very weak. When we have vaccinations to prevent flu at the right time, then why not."

Transmission of epidemic seasonal influenza in school settings can be explosive and fast moving, affecting a sizable proportion of students and staff. They said it spread from contact with a sick person, sharing a classroom with a sick person, staying in the hostels and school-related gatherings including large gatherings.

Dr. Manjori Mitra, Professor, Institute of Child Health, said: ” Children can be key spreaders in a population since they are in frequent contact with each other as well as family members, are more susceptible to influenza infection than adults, and can shed greater amounts of virus for longer periods of time. Children aged 4-6 years have the highest transmission potential (Taipei).”

One in 3 children with influenza are at risk of serious health complications. Healthy children are at equal risk to get and suffer influenza infection as children with high risk. The vaccinations are to be given yearly, before the monsoon season. It takes almost a week to become fully effective, they said.

(Reporting by Shruti Sood, Images by Avishek Mitra)