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Asthma - Management
Vaccinations: What advice should I give someone with asthma?

  • Advise all people with asthma and parents looking after children with asthma that an influenza and a pneumococcal vaccination is advisable if asthma is severe and requires hospital admission or frequent use of corticosteroids.
Clarification / Additional information
  • Influenza vaccination is recommended for all people older than 6 months who have required hospital admission for an exacerbation of asthma, or who need continuous or frequently repeated use of inhaled or oral corticosteroids [DH, 2006a]. For more information, see the CKS topic on Immunizations - seasonal influenza.
  • Pneumococcal vaccination is recommended in the following groups [DH, 2006b]:
    • People (of any age) whose asthma is so severe that they require continuous or frequent repeated use of oral corticosteroids (i.e. at a dose equivalent to 20 mg or more of prednisolone daily).
    • Children weighing less than 20 kg, a dose prednisolone of 1 mg or more per kilogram body weight per day, for more than a month.
    • Note that pneumococcal vaccine is now part of the childhood immunization programme — see www.dh.gov.uk [CMO et al, 2006]. For more information, see the CKS topic on Immunizations - pneumococcal.
Basis for recommendation
  • These recommendations are based on government policy as discussed in the 'Green Book', published by the Department of Health [DH, 2006b].
  • A yearly influenza vaccination does not appear to protect people from exacerbations or improve asthma control [GINA, 2006].

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