Influenza Vaccination in Children

Data on excess mortality figures obtained from the Communicable Disease Center and the Symposium on Asian Influenza^1-2 show that during the epidemic in 1957-1958 approximately 35,000,000 people in the United States had influenza, and an estimated 70,000 deaths occurred. Mortality figures obtained in 1957-1958 showed that approximately one-third of all respiratory deaths occurring in the Los Angeles County Hospital during the Asian influenza epidemic were in children under 3 years of age. Furthermore, a number of these died after a total illness of only 3 days. These data emphasize the serious nature of this disease that puts it in a category by itself. This lethal effect is a combination of influenza and other agents, such as Staphylococcus.^3-11 However, influenza alone has been shown in a number of instances to be solely responsible. Furthermore, we see it with monotonous regularity year after year.¹² The average healthy person tolerates