INFANTS could soon be given the flu jab up to the age of two. Government health advisers say vaccinating babies could cut health costs by preventing flu epidemics and the expense of treating them.

The plan has been proposed by the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation which considers medical evidence on new vaccination programmes and advises the Department of Health.

However, parents and some medical experts fear that young children could suffer strain on their immune systems through an overload of preventative jabs.

Children already receive injections for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio and bacterial meningitis in their first four months. At about 13 months babies are also given the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

“Estimating the burden of influenza is difficult. Although uncertainties remain, the burden is however considerable, mainly in the elderly,” the committee says.

“However, the burden in children is significant with large numbers of GP consultations, hospitalisations, and even some deaths, occurring annually in children in England and Wales. A vaccination strategy for pre-school children could reduce the burden, provided high levels of coverage were achieved.”

Flu is responsible for about 800,000 GP visits, 19,000 hospital stays and 10,000 respiratory deaths in England and Wales each year.

Doctors believe that children aged from one to four years would benefit significantly from flu jabs with a wide age range of those vaccinated producing the greatest effect.

The committee’s proposal envisages all children receiving two doses in the first year.

Experts believe that flu in infants drives the disease in all age groups. American research suggests that if four out of five children aged six months to 18 years took up the flu vaccine the incidence of the disease within the general population would fall by 91%.

The elderly could be the group that is most helped by vaccinating infants because of their relative susceptibility to infection. However, parents have been reluctant to expose children to more jabs since the MMR controversy three years ago. Confidence plummeted after research, later proved unreliable, linking it with autism and bowel disorders.

At its lowest level of take-up only about half of the children in some areas of London were given the MMR jab as parents demanded individual rather than multiple vaccinations, prompting warnings of outbreaks of the diseases among schoolchildren. Take-up of the MMR vaccine is now rising again as parents become more convinced it is safe.

Lindsay Hayes, of the Royal College of Nursing, warned: “There is already concern over the number of vaccines offered to children from three months, with some parents choosing those they feel most important.”

Jackie Fletcher, of the pressure group Jabs (Justice Awareness and Basic Support), said parents would be angry that infants were being immunised to help protect the rest of the population.

“Where are the trials on such young children, in combination with all the other vaccines they are getting, to show that this is a safe thing to do?” she said.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said last night the committee’s advice had been received and was being considered.

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