Single dose of anti-swine flu vaccine enough for kids: Study

The 15mg dose of the vaccine used in the present study is twice the dose given to children in the U.S., but according to the new study, the vaccine proved effective in 90 percent children.

The present research was initiated by a research team led by Terry Nolan, a virologist at the School of Population Health at University of Melbourne, and was supported by the Australian vaccine maker, CSL Ltd.

Dr. Anthony Fiore of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, “This is great news that kids, including the very youngest kids, responded with a single dose. It really is as good as we would have hoped.”

The study details and findings
The research team analyzed 370 healthy infants and children under nine for the present study. The study subjects were then divided into two groups for better observation of the impact of the dose.

While one group was given a 15 microgram dose of a vaccine produced by CSL Biotherapies, the second group received a 30 microgram vaccine dose. A second dose of the vaccine was given to all the children of both the groups after three weeks.

It was observed that after the first dose of the vaccine was given, 92 percent children who received the 15mg dose developed a well protected immunity against the swine flu virus, and after the second dose was given, the entire group was fully protected against the flu virus.

The results were similar for the group that received the 30mg dose of the vaccine, and no major side effects were found in the children.

Is the single dose of the vaccine really effective?
The U.S. health authorities, however, point out that the Australian study used a 15mg dosage of viral antigen, which was twice the quantity used in U.S. They also added that the sample size was too small to generalize the study findings for all.

“It remains prudent to continue to follow current recommendations for administering two doses to infants and young children while awaiting definitive vaccine effectiveness data,” informs Dr. Kathleen M. Neuzil from the National Center for Infectious Diseases.

Also, antibody levels in the children were 30 percent lesser in children than in adults receiving the same dose, suggesting the inefficiency of the single dose of the vaccine in protecting the children from the H1N1 virus.

The Australian researchers recommend two doses of the anti-swine flu vaccine for children who have not been exposed to the virus. While the first is expected to prepare the immune system to fight against the pandemic, the second will provide full immunity to the children.

The present study and its findings have been published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association.