Young children will need two doses of swine flu vaccine, health officials say

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The vaccine against pandemic H1N1 influenza provokes a strong protective response in adolescents with just one dose, but two doses will be required in children under the age of 10, government officials said this morning. The need for two doses in younger children is not surprising, said Dr.Antony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which conducted the vaccine trials. Young children also need two doses of the seasonal flu vaccine the first time they are inoculated because they have had no prior exposure to the virus. That means children ages 9 and younger could actually require four doses of vaccine this fall -- two against seasonal flu and two against swine flu. Children could receive a dose of seasonal and a dose of swine flu vaccine on the same visit, one in each arm, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Because the seasonal flu vaccine is already available and the swine flu vaccine is not, however, officials are urging parents to go ahead and get their children inoculated against seasonal flu as soon as possible.

In a group of 25 adolescents ages 10 to 17, researchers found that 76% had a strong immune response to one dose of the vaccine in just eight to 10 days after the shot. Researchers expect the percentage will climb over time. Among 25 volunteers ages 3 to 9, however, only 36% showed a strong immune response. And in children ages 6 months to 35 months, only 25% had a strong response. No adverse events were noted other than redness and tenderness at the injection site.

Federal officials expect at least 3.4 million doses of vaccine to be available about the beginning of October, with an additional 20 million doses arriving each week after that.

-- Thomas H. Maugh II