Christine Loscher
Professor of Immunology
Childhood flu vaccinations are crucial. A quick and painless nasal spray is available, highly effective and free for eligible children aged two to 17 years.
While Ireland had its most successful uptake yet when it came to childhood flu vaccines during last year’s season, it is still falling far below the national target of 50%, something which Professor of Immunology, Christine Loscher, is trying to change. “I don’t think people realise how badly flu can affect younger children,” she explains. “Children often can’t tell you how unwell they are, and they deteriorate very quickly.”
Standardising school vaccinations
While systems are being rolled out in some schools to give childhood flu vaccinations more practically, these services are fragmented. Loscher believes this should be standardised across schools to make vaccination as convenient as possible for working parents, pointing to Ireland’s school-based vaccination programme for five to 12-year-olds as a model worth building on.
“If we want to drive uptake, we need to empower and enable parents, and remove potential barriers,” she says. “Although GPs are often the first port of call for parents, pharmacists also have a huge role to play in promoting this access.”
Serious and preventable illness
Children under the age of five and children of any age with certain chronic conditions, including asthma and diabetes, are at an increased risk of developing serious complications from influenza. “People associate flu season with older adults,” explains Loscher. “But the highest influenza incidence at several points during the 2025/26 season was actually among children under the age of five.”
While flu can cause relatively mild illness, with symptoms including fever, fatigue, dry cough and a sore throat, it can also lead to complications such as ear infections, which require antibiotics to treat, as well as more serious complications such as encephalitis and pneumonia. “The children’s flu vaccine is a quick nasal spray, highly effective and free,” says Loscher. “The nasal vaccine is not a new approach; it has been used for many years and is a tried-and-tested form of vaccination.” If the nasal spray is unsuitable, an injectable is also available.
If we want to drive uptake,
we need to empower and enable parents, and remove potential barriers
Benefiting the wider community
While vaccination does not completely prevent children from catching influenza, it can reduce the risk of severe illness while protecting vulnerable people in the wider community. “Boosting vaccination rates amongst under-18s is also a missed opportunity to promote wider public health outcomes if we don’t act on it,” says Loscher. “The single most powerful thing we can do to protect the most vulnerable this winter is to get the flu vaccine.”
Veeva ID IE-9617, DOP Sept 2026
