A recent study conducted in Israel and Michigan found that vaccinating children reduces the risk of hospitalization for complications associated with the flu by 54%.

This study joins other studies which had similar findings: that the flu shot will reduce one’s chances of in-hospital death among patients, reduce ICU admission, and shorten ICU length of stay among patients who were vaccinated with the flu shot but still caught the flu.

This study found that compared to unvaccinated children, children who were fully vaccinated with the flu shot were 74% or 82% less likely to be admitted to a PICU for influenza compared to PICU controls or community controls, respectively.

Then there is this study which also found that children vaccinated with the flu shot had lower death rates from influenza-proven illness.

These studies are done simply: when children (or adults) are admitted to the hospital with the flu, the researchers checked whether they had received the flu vaccine. Then they monitored how the patients did: whether they were discharged quickly, whether they developed complications, whether they needed the intensive care unit (ICU), and how long they remained there. And of course, they recorded whether their patients died. Then they compared these outcomes to children or adults who were admitted with the flu, but who were not vaccinated.

The results speak for themselves: get your flu shot!

Find more studies with the same findings below:

Arriola, C., Garg, S., Anderson, E. J., Ryan, P. A., George, A., Zansky, S. M., … & Yousey-Hindes, K. (2017). Influenza vaccination modifies disease severity among community-dwelling adults hospitalized with influenza. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 65(8), 1289-1297. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28525597

Ferdinands, J. M., Olsho, L. E., Agan, A. A., Bhat, N., Sullivan, R. M., Hall, M., … & Randolph, A. G. (2014). Effectiveness of influenza vaccine against life-threatening RT-PCR-confirmed influenza illness in US children, 2010–2012. The Journal of infectious diseases, 210(5), 674-683. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24676207

Flannery, B., Reynolds, S. B., Blanton, L., Santibanez, T. A., O’Halloran, A., Lu, P. J., … & Singleton, J. A. (2017). Influenza vaccine effectiveness against pediatric deaths: 2010–2014. Pediatrics, 139(5), e20164244. https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/early/2017/03/30/peds.2016-4244.full.pdf

Godoy, P., Romero, A., Soldevila, N., Torner, N., Jané, M., Martínez, A., … & Domínguez, A. (2018). Influenza vaccine effectiveness in reducing severe outcomes over six influenza seasons, a case-case analysis, Spain, 2010/11 to 2015/16. Eurosurveillance, 23(43). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6208006/

 Grijalva, C. G., Zhu, Y., Williams, D. J., Self, W. H., Ampofo, K., Pavia, A. T., … & Anderson, E. J. (2015). Association between hospitalization with community-acquired laboratory-confirmed influenza pneumonia and prior receipt of influenza vaccination. Jama, 314(14), 1488-1497. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2450326

Restivo, V., Costantino, C., Bono, S., Maniglia, M., Marchese, V., Ventura, G., … & Vitale, F. (2018). Influenza vaccine effectiveness among high-risk groups: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies. Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics, 14(3), 724-735. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21645515.2017.1321722

Rolfes, M. A., Flannery, B., Chung, J. R., O’Halloran, A., Garg, S., Belongia, E. A., … & Alden, N. B. (2019). Effects of influenza vaccination in the United States during the 2017–2018 influenza season. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 69(11), 1845-1853. https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/69/11/1845/5305915

Thompson, M. G., Pierse, N., Huang, Q. S., Prasad, N., Duque, J., Newbern, E. C., … & McArthur, C. (2018). Influenza vaccine effectiveness in preventing influenza-associated intensive care admissions and attenuating severe disease among adults in New Zealand 2012–2015. Vaccine, 36(39), 5916-5925. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30077480

Udell, J. A., Zawi, R., Bhatt, D. L., Keshtkar-Jahromi, M., Gaughran, F., Phrommintikul, A., … & Cannon, C. P. (2013). Association between influenza vaccination and cardiovascular outcomes in high-risk patients: a meta-analysis. Jama, 310(16), 1711-1720. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/1758749

Vamos, E. P., Pape, U. J., Curcin, V., Harris, M. J., Valabhji, J., Majeed, A., & Millett, C. (2016). Effectiveness of the influenza vaccine in preventing admission to hospital and death in people with type 2 diabetes. CMAJ, 188(14), E342-E351. https://www.cmaj.ca/content/188/14/E342.short

Walker, E., & Ison, M. G. (2014). Respiratory viral infections among hospitalized adults: experience of a single tertiary healthcare hospital. Influenza and other respiratory viruses, 8(3), 282-292. https://doi.org/10.1111/irv.12237  

Wilkinson, K., Wei, Y., Szwajcer, A., Rabbani, R., Zarychanski, R., Abou-Setta, A. M., & Mahmud, S. M. (2017). Efficacy and safety of high-dose influenza vaccine in elderly adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Vaccine, 35(21), 2775-2780. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X17304449

 Wong, K. K., Jain, S., Blanton, L., Dhara, R., Brammer, L., Fry, A. M., & Finelli, L. (2013). Influenza-associated pediatric deaths in the United States, 2004–2012. Pediatrics, 132(5), 796-804.