School Age Flu Vaccinations in Cornwall & Devon

The flu vaccine for children is given as a single dose of nasal spray squirted up each nostril. 
It is needle-free, and the nasal spray works better than the injected flu vaccine with fewer side effects. It’s quick and painless and will mean your child is less likely to become ill if they come into contact with the flu virus. 

There is a flu vaccine available in the form of an injection.

The nasal flu vaccine is the best vaccine for children and young people under 18 years of age as it is more effective at stopping the spread of flu and it is painless, but it does have a highly processed form of gelatine (porcine gelatine), which is used in a range of many essential medicines. The gelatine helps to keep the vaccine viruses stable so that the vaccine provides the best protection against flu. 

If your faith or beliefs mean you would prefer a vaccine that has no pork (porcine gelatine) in it, please complete the consent for the flu injection only. You do not need to complete a form for both. 

The nasal spray vaccine contains flu viruses that have been weakened to stop them causing flu. 
It will help your child build up immunity to flu in a similar way as natural infection (but without the symptoms). 
Because the main flu viruses change each year, a new nasal spray vaccine has to be given each year, in the same way as the injectable flu vaccine. Most children only need a single dose of the nasal spray. 

The flu vaccine for children has a very good safety profile:

• The nasal spray flu vaccine (LAIV) has been used in millions of children worldwide and has an excellent safety record.
• It is live attenuated, meaning it contains weakened flu viruses that cannot cause flu.
• The MHRA continuously monitors vaccine safety through the Yellow Card Scheme, which collects reports of suspected side effects.

Here is a link from the UK Health Safety Agency for more information.

Flu can be very unpleasant for children. They have the same symptoms as adults – including fever, chills, aching muscles, headache, stuffy nose, dry cough and sore throat lasting up to a week. 
Some children develop a very high fever or complications of flu such as bronchitis, pneumonia and painful middle ear infection. They may need hospital treatment, and very occasionally a child may die from flu. For children with long-term health conditions such as diabetes, asthma, heart or lung disease, getting flu can be very serious as they are more at risk of developing serious complications. 

You should let us know if your child has any of the following:

• A  very severe allergy to eggs, egg proteins, gentamicin or gelatine – it is important for us to know if your child has been admitted to hospital with a condition called anaphylaxis, triggered by these things. 
• If your child is wheezy when we are due to be in school, or if they have been wheezy in the past 72 hours with asthma. There is an alternative flu vaccine that we can talk to you about to ensure that your child is protected as soon as possible.
• Have a condition that severely weakens their immune system.

Also, children who have been vaccinated should avoid close contact with people with very severely weakened immune systems for around two weeks following vaccination. This is because there’s an extremely remote chance that the vaccine virus may be passed to them.

Here is a link to the NHS guidelines for more information.

The vaccine is live attenuated, meaning it contains weakened flu viruses that cannot cause flu.

The nasal spray flu vaccine has very few possible side effects:  

• decreased appetite 

• headache 

• a runny or blocked nose 

• sometimes a raised  temperature 

These are common, but they pass quickly and can be treated with paracetamol or ibuprofen if you feel your child needs it. 

Serious side effects are uncommon, but if you’re worried about your child, trust your instincts and speak to your doctor or call/go online using NHS 111.

As with all vaccines, there’s a very small chance of a severe allergic reaction (known medically as anaphylaxis). The overall rate of anaphylaxis after vaccination is around one in 900,000, so slightly more common than one in a million.
Anaphylaxis is very serious but it can be treated with adrenaline. When it happens, it normally does so within a few minutes of the vaccination. 

Staff who give vaccinations have all been trained to spot and deal with anaphylactic reactions and children recover completely with treatment. 

Yes. There is a flu vaccine available, in the form of an injection. 

The nasal flu vaccine is the best vaccine for children and young people under 18 years of age as it is more effective at stopping the spread of flu and it is painless, but it does have a highly processed form of gelatine (porcine gelatine), which is used in a range of many essential medicines. The gelatine helps to keep the vaccine viruses stable so that the vaccine provides the best protection against flu. 
 
If your faith or beliefs mean you would prefer a vaccine that has no pork (porcine gelatine) in it, please complete the consent for the flu injection only. You do not need to complete a form for both.  

We operate school and community clinics across Cornwall and Devon between September through to December, so please contact us for dates. We rotate the timetable of school visits each flu season so that all schools are treated fairly. 

PLEASE NOTE:
The flu vaccine will NOT be available to otherwise healthy children after  December 25th. 

If your child cannot be vaccinated in school before that date, please book a clinic appointment. 

We are obliged to offer the vaccine to every eligible child in your area. If we do not receive a consent or decline, we are unsure of your wishes and will continue to attempt to make contact to offer the vaccine. Completing the consent is the clearest way of making your wishes known, and means we are less likely to get in contact with you once you have declined the vaccine.  

We are required to offer your child the vaccine every year, therefore, we must ask for your consent every flu season.  

We book vaccination session dates in advance of the flu season, so your school will usually have a date long before the visit. However, on occasion, we may have to change this date. We try very hard not to do this, but sometimes it is unavoidable. We will always tell the school when we are going to be back in again for another visit.  

We operate school and community clinics across Devon and Cornwall between September and December, so please contact us for dates. 

• In the 2024/25 season, the flu vaccine was 75% effective in preventing hospitalisation in children aged 2–17. [gov.uk]
• The vaccine is estimated to have prevented up to 120,000 hospital admissions in England last winter. [gov.uk]