An advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control now recommends flu vaccine for healthy children, six to 23 months of age.  Healthy kids in this age group have as high a risk for being hospitalized for flu-related complications as people over the age of 65.  Representing the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, Doctor Kathleen Neuzil of the University of Washington School of Medicine: 

�The CDC has issued a new recommendation for children six to 23 months of age, that all such children receive influenza vaccine each year.  The goal of this recommendation is to prevent complications in influenza and reduce hospitalizations in this age group.�

Influenza puts children six to 23 months old at significant risk for hospitalizations due to pneumonia, respiratory conditions, heart failure and inflammation of the heart muscle.