Parents have also refused consent for their child to be vaccinated because of fears about the vaccine, Public Health England (PHE) has revealed.
It is the second year of a pilot programme of the new nasal spray flu vaccinations aimed at school-aged children, with schools being at the forefront of the delivery.
However, PHE has issued an information notice for headteachers this week warning about the misunderstandings.
It states: “PHE has been made aware of a number of instances where parents who have not given consent for their child to receive the … children’s flu vaccine nasal spray are also not allowing their child to be present in school – either on the day of immunisation or in some cases for days or weeks afterwards.”
The nasal flu vaccine uses a live but weakened influenza virus which protects against infection in those who receive it.
PHE says that the cases relate to two common misconceptions – that the “fine mist” squirted out of the vaccine will infect others and that children getting the vaccine will actively “shed” live flu virus for several days after, putting others at risk of infection.
It is seeking to reassure schools and parents. The nasal vaccine has been used in the USA during the past 11 years and two million doses were given to infants and children during the first year of the pilot in England in 2013/14.
The PHE statement adds: “This vaccine has a good safety record and unvaccinated (people) are not at risk of becoming seriously ill with the flu vaccine virus, either through being in the same room where flu vaccine has been given or by being in contact with a recently vaccinated individual.”
Furthermore, while children are known to shed the virus a few days after vaccination, the amount shed is “normally below the levels needed to pass on infection to others and the virus does not survive for long outside of the body”, it states.
It comes after a report published earlier this month revealed that the second year of the pilot programme has achieved a 50 per cent up-take among students – with schools proving to be the most effective delivery route.
The programme is being piloted in several areas of England and offered vaccinations to primary pupils aged 4 to 11 years and to secondary pupils aged 11 to 13 years for the 2014/15 flu season.
At primary level, the up-take across six pilot areas has been 56.8 per cent (196,994 children), while at secondary level the update across 12 areas has been 49.8 per cent (184,975 students).
The programme itself was launched after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommended that all healthy children aged 2 to 16 should be offered the newly licensed nasal vaccine.
The evaluation report concludes that school-based delivery was the most successful, but says more work is still needed to refine the delivery model: “In countries such as England, with its very high school attendance levels, there seem to be clear advantages to this delivery approach for a paediatric influenza vaccine programme for children of school age, although there was still variation in up-take, particularly in relation to factors such as deprivation and ethnicity in 2013/14.
“Further work is still required to refine the optimal delivery model, particularly from an equity and efficiency perspective.”
However, the evaluation urges “careful consideration” of the benefits of secondary-age vaccination.
This is because while the primary programme is proving successful, with the effects being felt by both the vaccinated pupils and other age groups in terms of decreased diagnoses and GP consultations, “vaccination of secondary school age children alone failed to show conclusive evidence of such reductions in disease incidence in either targeted or non-targeted age groups”.
The PHE’s advice to headteachers can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/1YcWCyQ and the pilot vaccination evaluation report can be seen at http://bit.ly/1HTbOb0