Children are eligible for free nasal flu vaccines from today. Last year, 1,274 children were hospitalised with flu and the ‘Flunited’ campaign hopes to highlight this to parents at their launch today. "The vaccine is available free for two to 12-year-olds as a nasal vaccination,” DCU Professor of Immunology Christine Loscher said.
"It’s also available for 12 to 17-year-olds for free who have underlying conditions, the vaccine is also available to other children up to the age of 17. And of course, we also have the vaccine available to adults, which is in its normal format."
The vaccine can be obtained from GP clinics and pharmacies. "It’s a nasal vaccination, so it is literally a quick sniff for a child, so very straightforward," Professor Loscher said.
"And we are really asking people to consider having their child vaccinated because it lessens the infection rate that we have in the country and therefore it will lessen the infections for all of the other age groups."
The ‘Flunited’ campaign will be formally launched by GAA Mayo star Aidan O’Shea in Dublin this morning.
