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Shetal I. Shah, MD

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161(6):618.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

I read with interest the article by France et al¹ in the December issue of the Archives, which is the second article to demonstrate that influenza vaccination in mothers does not impact respiratory tract illness rates in their infants.² While the authors state that vaccination is still recommended, pediatricians must ensure the data are interpreted in the proper context.

Of concern is that internal medicine and obstetric colleagues who are disinclined to immunize, because they face financial constraints regarding vaccine administration and thus have not achieved high vaccine coverage rates in pregnant mothers, will cite this data as justification to further reduce their efforts.³ However, it should be noted that protection of infants from hospitalization and influenza-like illness requires a cocoon of protection of all the infant's close contacts, not solely mothers.⁴ Paternal immunization, which is not addressed in the article, and immunization of other . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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