Safety and immunogenicity of live attenuated and inactivated influenza vaccines in children with cancer.

Background: The safety and immunogenicity of live, attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) has not been compared to that of the standard trivalent inactivated vaccine (TIV) in children with cancer.

Methods: Randomized study of LAIV versus TIV in children with cancer, age 2-21 years, vaccinated according to recommendations based on age and prior vaccination. Data on reactogenicity and other adverse events and blood and nasal swab samples were obtained following vaccination.