All healthy children under five could be offered the seasonal flu vaccine next year after the Department of Health announced the issue would be reviewed.

Last winter, all children under five were offered immunization against swine flu on the NHS after the virus emerged and developed into a pandemic.
In the summer however, a Government advisory committee recommended that should not be repeated this winter.
Instead, with the pandemic over, the swine flu jab was incorporated into this year's seasonal flu vaccine, which is only offered to young children on the NHS if they are at particular risk because of an underlying medical condition.
In the past few weeks however, the number of cases of flu in England and Wales has increased sharply, fuelled in part by many young people contracting swine flu. Experts have warned that the first flu epidemic for a decade could take hold in the New Year when young children return to school after the Christmas break.
The Department of Health disclosed that the issue of whether healthy under fives should be vaccinated would now be subject to a lengthy review, which could lead to them receiving the seasonal flu vaccine on the NHS next year.
A recommendation will be made by the Government's Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunization (JCVI), following advice from its flu sub committee.
The Daily Telegraph can disclose that this sub committee met earlier this month to discuss new evidence which supported the conclusion that all healthy infants should be vaccinated. However, JCVI's recommendation will not change in time for this flu season.
The failure to immediately vaccinate young children may prove controversial amid warnings that a flu epidemic may take hold next month when schools re-open. Currently, cases are rising more sharply than at the same point before the last epidemic. So far this season 27 people have died from flu, a third of them under 18 and the vast majority of them from swine flu. The youngest was a year old.
On Monday, a political row erupted after Labor accused Conservative ministers of restricting flu vaccines to save money. John Healey, the Shadow Health Secretary, accused Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, of making a ""serious misjudgment"" by not offering healthy young children the vaccine this season.
But yesterday, Simon Burns, the Health Minister, called on Mr. Healey to apologize, saying the Government was bound by law to take the advice of the JCVI, a group of independent experts. Last winter, parents of all under fives could take them to NHS surgeries to get them vaccinated against swine flu.
In January, the majority of members on the JCVI's flu sub-group agreed ""that it would be prudent to include children aged between six months and under five years in the 2010/2011 seasonal influenza program"", possibly with the H1N1 vaccine.
But in July, this advice was not taken up the full committee, which draws up the Government’s vaccination program. It recommended that under fives should not be offered the seasonal flu jab this winter, even though swine flu (H1N1) is a major strain in the current flu wave.
(Source: Daily Telegraph)