U. S. researchers have recommended vaccinating school children and parents to control the outbreak of flu and influenza.

They said that it is important to vaccinate those who are most likely to spread the virus to the rest of the population, than the ones who are at a risk of serious complications after being affected.

The present practice followed by the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for vaccination of seasonal and H1N1 is to vaccinate the people who are most likely to suffer severely due to these.

The change in strategy suggested by researchers would aim at preventing transmission than on treatment. Once children are protected the parents and grandparents will automatically be prevented from the flu and hence people without kids have a rare chance to getting affected.

Medlock and colleague Alison Galvani of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, developed a mathematical model of flu spread that takes age and transmission patterns into account.

They concluded that a vaccine strategy, which can be applied to children between 5-19 years and adults between 30-39 years, is the most effective way to stop the spread of the disease.

The model includes both contact and mortality data from influenza pandemics and looks for the best way to use vaccine to improve five outcome measures: deaths, infections, years of life lost, contingent valuation and economic costs.