No free flu shots for ‘spreaders’

Pharmac has rejected calls for free flu jabs for ‘‘super spreader’’ children, despite evidence showing it could save lives.

District health board (DHB) general managers had asked the Government drug-buying agency to consider a free influenza immunisation programme for New Zealand children, in the wake of a deadly virus strain in the northern hemisphere.

Pharmac said no, as the request came too late. The agency ordered the vaccine six months in advance. The cost to roll out an expanded programme needed to be considered against the agency’s competing priorities, Pharmac chief executive Sarah Fitt said.

The United Kingdom’s National Health Service offered children aged 2 to 9 free flu vaccines through a nasal spray for the 2017-18 season, and several Australian states and territories have offered a free jab to children aged between 6 months and 5 yearsthis flu season. Research published last year by the US Centres for Disease Control showed flu vaccination significantly reduced the risk of influenza-related death in children.

It was also believed to effectively contain the spread of the virus to more vulnerable populations including the elderly and those with chronic health conditions.

Following the Christchurch earthquakes, the Canterbury DHB offered all children aged 6 months to 18 years living in Canterbury free flu vaccines from 2011 to 2014 with support from Pharmac.

A report analysing the programme could not say how effective the offer had been.

During that expanded programme, coverage rates remained below 40 per cent – the minimum needed to limit the spread of flu to people beyond the target group.

This year the Canterbury DHB is offering free flu vaccination to children aged from 6 months to 17 years in the Kaiko¯ura and Hurunui areas, which are still recovering from the November 2016 earthquake.

Vaccinologist and Immunisation Advisory Centre research director Dr Helen Petousis-Harris said children were not the highest risk group, but were ‘‘super spreaders’’ of the flu virus.

Mass free immunisation for children was an ‘‘important conversation to have in New Zealand’’, she said.

‘‘Experience in other countries is showing that by targeting this group you are seeing less flu in those people that you normally do, like older people, because children are an important part of the community.

‘‘By stopping the transition there you can affect your whole flu season.’’

Up to 80 per cent of people who came into contact with the flu virus were ‘‘carriers’’ only and did not get sick themselves.

A bad flu season could have huge indirect health consequences by worsening chronic illnesses and causing other infections in vulnerable populations, PetousisHarris said.

Otago University research published last year showed influenza killed about 500 people a year in New Zealand.