1. The effects of Children
Receiving the Influenza
Vaccination in
Comparison to School
Absenteeism
Karalyn Gonzalez
Argosy University

2.  Hello everyone, my name is Karalyn
Gonzalez; I attend Argosy University. I
will be giving a narrative summary of the
effects of children receiving the influenza
vaccination in comparison to school
absenteeism.

3.  What is a vaccination?
 Research Question
 Hypothesis
 Objective
 Sample
Abstract

4.  To start off with lets go over some basics:
 -A vaccination contains the killed virus and is injected into the muscle; it is approved for people ranging
from 6 moths old through 65 years old.
 -The vaccination for influenza, or more commonly known as, flu vaccine, is to protect people from
contacting the influenza virus.
 -Influenza is an acute respiratory infection with high morbidity and a significant mortality; it causes
complications in very young people and in very old people.
 -Symptoms include fever, cough, body aches, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, headaches, fatigue,
vomiting, and diarrhea.
 My research question is, will children who receive the influenza vaccination be absent more or less than
children who do not receive the vaccination.
 My hypothesis is that the children who do receive the vaccination will miss more days from school.
 The objective is to quantifiably report the number of missed school days in comparison with the number of
children who received the vaccination.
 The sample of children will include school-aged children, grades kindergarten through eighth .

5.  Summarization of findings from the
article, Illness Among Schoolchildren
during Influenza Season
 Strengths
 Weaknesses
 Does it support the author’s hypothesis?
Literature

6.  Summarization
 In the article, Illness Among Schoolchildren during influenza season, The total illness episodes including
school absenteeism and parental absenteeism from work was significantly higher during influenza season
compared with the noninfluenza season. For every 100 children followed up for this influenza season,
which included 37 school days , an excess 28 illness episodes and 63 missed school days occurred.
Similarly, for every 100 children followed up, influenza accounted for an estimated 20 days of work missed
by the parents and 22 secondary illness episodes among family members .
 Conclusion from this article-influenza season has significant adverse effects on the quality of life of school-
aged children and their families.
 Strengths
 This article was able to quantify the effect of influenza season on illness episodes,
school absenteeism, and parental absenteeism from work.
 Weaknesses
 The article describes more than what the research question is asking and is
therefore a little skewed in the quantity.
 This article does not support my hypothesis because I was more concerned with the
quantity of school absenteeism compared to the quantity of children who received
the vaccine. The article does however support the fact that the children are missing
school during influenza season.

7.  Summarization of findings from the article,
The Impact of school-located influenza
vaccination programs on student
absenteeism: a review of the U.S. literature
 Strengths
 Weaknesses
 Does it support the author’s hypothesis?
Literature

8.  Summarization
 In the article, The Impact of school-located influenza vaccination programs on
student absenteeism:a review of U.S. literature, the study done in Maryland
vaccinated 46% of children in kindergarten through eighth grades. For 20%
of the children vaccinated, there was a 4% decrease in the rise of absentee
rates which occurred during the influenza outbreak periods in the elementary
school . Results suggest both direct and indirect benefits of the influenza
vaccination in young children.
 Strengths
 Involved a great sample of children with positive results in Maryland.
 Weaknesses
 Sample was only of children in Maryland and not the rest of the United States.
 This article does not support my hypothesis because I thought that the more
children that received the vaccination, the more school days would be missed.

9.  Summarization of findings from the
article, Effectiveness of school-located
influenza vaccination
 Strengths
 Weaknesses
 Does it support the author’s hypothesis?
Literature

10.  Summarization
 In the article, Effectiveness of school located influenza vaccination, the study contained a
group of schools that received vaccinations and a group of schools that did not receive
vaccinations. The group that did-11 schools. The group that did not–17 schools. Both of
the groups had an increased absenteeism rate during the influenza outbreak. In the group
of schools where children were given the vaccinations, the ones that did not receive them
had a 6% increase in school absenteeism. It also resulted in a 4.7% increase of absences
of other children and parents in corresponding households. In the group of schools where
vaccination were not given, there was a 9% increase of school absenteeism during
influenza season.
 Strengths
 The sample of children had a control group which was more effective when comparing
absenteeism rates during influenza season with children who did receive a vaccination and
children who did not receive a vaccination.
 Weaknesses
 The number of schools in each group was different which may have skewed the resulting
numbers a little bit.
 Again this article does not support my hypothesis. There was significantly less number of
days missed of school when the children received vaccinations.

11.  General Results
 Research questions for future use to
further develop the area of study
 Research topic relevant to current work
Conclusion

12.  Children who receive the influenza vaccination have a decreased absenteeism
rate from school during influenza season. Also, the households in which
people are vaccinated contain a lower number of absenteeism rate from school
and the workplace. When children do not receive the influenza vaccination the
quantity of days missed from school increases.
 Some research question for future use to further develop this area of study
could include:
 What are the effects on a household with children if the parental figures
receive a vaccination as well?
 Would having sanitizer in the classrooms help eliminate student absenteeism?
 Would regular hand-washing procedures and hygiene education help reduce
the student absenteeism rate during flu season?
 This current topic is important because it promotes a decreased number of
student absenteeism during influenza season in schools. The vaccination will
continue to improve to have as minimal side effects as possible.

13. H.F. Hull, C.S. Ambrose. The impact of school-located
influenza vaccination programs on student absenteeism: a
review of the U.S. literature. J School Nurs, 27 (1) (2011),
pp. 34–42.
J.C. King Jr., J.J. Stoddard, M.J. Gaglani, K.A. Moore, L.
Magder, E. McClure et al. Effectiveness of school-located
influenza vaccination. N Engl J Med, 355 (24) (2006), pp.
2523–2532.
K.M. Neuzil, C. Hohlbein, Y. Zhu. Illness among children
during influenza season: effect on school absenteeism,
parental absenteeism from work, and secondary illness in
families. Arch Pediatr Adoles Med, 156 (10) (2002), pp.
986–991.
Key Facts about Influenza (Flu) & Flu Vaccine. (2011).
Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/flu/keyfacts.htm
References

14.  Thank you for joining me in the discussion
of the effects of children receiving the
influenza vaccination in comparison to
school absenteeism.
 Have a great day!