Flu jab works despite irregularities

Children who receive full flu vaccinations are less than half as likely to get the flu - even if the vaccine does not closely match the flu strain.

A study of 2,400 children aged between six months and five years in the US found the vaccines were 60 per cent effective between 2004 and 2005.

However, only 19 per cent of children received all the vaccines that were necessary to tackle the illness during this period.

Children who only received one shot of flu vaccine, for example, were not protected, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center in the US said.

Professor of paediatrics and community and preventive medicine at the University Peter Szilagyi highlighted the importance of vaccinating children against the flu.

"If we can prevent them [children] from getting sick in the first place, we can prevent their loved ones from getting sick," he said.

According to the National Health Service in the UK, flu symptoms peak after two to three days resulting in recovery over the next five to eight.

However, a cough and general tiredness may remain for the following two to three weeks.

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