Flu in babies: the 2026-2027 vaccination campaign starts on 13 October 2026 in mainland France and the overseas territories, according to DGS-Urgent instruction no. 2026_12 of 22 September 2026. A baby can be vaccinated from 6 months of age if they have a risk factor. Before 6 months, there is no vaccine: protection comes from vaccinating the pregnant mother and the people around the baby. Here is what the campaign involves, what last season's figures show and the everyday habits that count at home.
Flu in babies: from what age can they be vaccinated?
From 6 months. Injectable flu vaccines are authorised from that age. The French recommendation mainly targets children aged 6 months and over who have a chronic condition: a respiratory illness including asthma, heart disease, a neurological, kidney or liver disease, diabetes, obesity or an immune deficiency. Babies born prematurely, whose lungs remain fragile in the first months, are among the situations to discuss with the doctor; our guide to a premature baby's corrected age helps put that fragility into perspective.
When a child is vaccinated for the first time before the age of 9, the vaccination schedule provides for two doses one month apart. In the following years, a single dose is enough. The nasal spray vaccine, Fluenz Tetra, is reserved for children aged 2 and over, so it does not apply to babies.
Since the 2023-2024 season, vaccination can also be offered every year to all children aged 2 to 17 without a chronic condition. Few parents know about this option, and it is little used.
What the 2026-2027 campaign involves
- Dates: opens on 13 October 2026, at the same time in mainland France and overseas. The campaign usually runs until the end of January.
- Joint vaccination: the flu campaign is paired with the Covid-19 campaign, with a vaccine adapted to the XFG sub-lineage and a paediatric version for children aged 6 months to 11 years.
- Who vaccinates: doctors, midwives, pharmacists and nurses. Pharmacists and nurses vaccinate from the age of 11; below that age, vaccination takes place at the doctor's or the midwife's.
- Cost cover: the vaccine is covered at 100 % for people at risk, including children aged 6 months and over with a chronic condition, pregnant women and those around at-risk babies. For children aged 2 to 17 without a chronic condition, it is reimbursed at 65 %.
Healthcare professionals in regular contact with babies are among the priority groups. The full schedule of baby vaccines, both compulsory and recommended, is set out in our article on baby vaccinations in France.
Why are babies particularly affected?
Because flu hits young children harder than people imagine, and it sends them to hospital more often. The Santé publique France (the French public health agency) review of the 2025-2026 season, published on 15 April 2026, shows the scale.
- The epidemic lasted 10 weeks, from December 2025 to mid-February 2026, driven exclusively by type A viruses, with the A(H3N2) subtype dominant.
- It led to around 1.2 million GP consultations, 115,000 visits to A&E and 24,000 hospital admissions after an A&E visit.
- Under-15s accounted for 46 % of A&E visits for flu or flu-like illness, and children for 18 % of the admissions that followed.
- 4,389 flu-related deaths were recorded on electronic death certificates, 84 % of them in people aged 75 and over.
The previous season, 2024-2025, had been even harder on the youngest children. According to the review published in the Bulletin épidémiologique hebdomadaire on 14 October 2025, the consultation rate for under-5s reached 9,415 per 100,000. That is three times the average of earlier seasons. Twenty-six deaths of children under 15 mentioning flu were recorded on electronic death certificates.
These figures are not meant to worry you. They explain why the health authorities stress the protection of babies every autumn, including indirect protection.
How can you protect a baby under 6 months?
A baby under 6 months cannot be vaccinated against flu. There are two levers, and they work together.
Vaccination during pregnancy
Vaccination is recommended for pregnant women, at any stage of pregnancy. It protects the mother, in whom flu is more often complicated, and passes antibodies to the foetus that protect the baby during the first months of life. It is the only way to directly protect a child who will be born in the middle of the flu season.
Vaccinating the people around the baby
The recommendation covers people who live with a baby under 6 months who is at risk of severe flu: prematurity, heart disease, lung or neurological disease. Parents, siblings, grandparents and anyone who looks after the child are concerned. This strategy, sometimes called cocooning, reduces the number of viruses circulating in the home.
Everyday habits
Wash your hands before caring for the baby and don't kiss their face when you have a cold. Air the rooms for ten minutes twice a day. Keep unwell visitors away and wear a mask if you have flu yourself. These habits also protect against the other winter viruses.
Flu in babies: what are the symptoms and when should you see a doctor?
In a baby, flu shows up as a fever that is often high and sudden, a cough, a runny nose and marked tiredness. There is often also a refusal to drink or eat, sometimes vomiting or diarrhoea. The picture looks like that of other winter infections, and only a test can tell them apart with certainty.
The Assurance Maladie (French national health insurance) recommends seeing a doctor quickly as soon as you suspect flu in a baby. Some signs call for an urgent consultation, or a call to 15 (the French emergency medical number):
- a fever in a baby under 3 months, however well they seem;
- fast, laboured or noisy breathing, breathlessness at rest;
- a baby who is drinking much less, has few wet nappies or seems dehydrated;
- unusual drowsiness, weak crying, a child who is hard to wake;
- a fever that comes back after an improvement.
At home, the Assurance Maladie advises a cool, well-aired room at 18 to 20 °C, not bundling the child up too much and offering drinks often. If the fever is poorly tolerated, paracetamol is given at a dose calculated by weight, without exceeding 60 milligrams per kilogram per day. The exact calculation is explained in our article on paracetamol doses for babies, and what to do about a fever in our article fever in babies: what to do. To take a baby's temperature correctly, our guide which thermometer for your baby explains why the rectal route remains the reference before the age of 2.
Flu, bronchiolitis, Covid: three viruses, one season
Flu circulates at the same time as respiratory syncytial virus, which causes bronchiolitis, and SARS-CoV-2. All three cause similar symptoms in babies, but the means of prevention differ. Against bronchiolitis, protection relies on an antibody given to the baby or on vaccinating the mother at the end of pregnancy; we explain this in our article on the bronchiolitis prevention campaign. Against flu, it is the vaccine from 6 months and cocooning. Against Covid-19, the paediatric vaccine from 6 months for at-risk children.
A baby can receive several of these protections in the same season. The doctor or midwife who follows the child organises the schedule.
Getting organised when your baby has flu
A baby with flu sleeps more, eats less and wants more contact for three to seven days. The fever usually lasts two to four days; the cough can persist for two weeks. Flu is not one of the illnesses that require compulsory exclusion from nursery, but most nursery rules require a feverish child to stay at home. Our guidance on exclusions and the rights of working parents is in our article on a poorly baby at nursery.
At home, keep the day's landmarks, naps and meals, even if the timings slip. Wash your hands after every nose-wipe and every nappy change, and keep brothers and sisters away from used tissues. Contagion starts the day before symptoms appear and lasts about a week in young children.
Key points to remember
- The 2026-2027 flu vaccination campaign opens on 13 October 2026, at the same time as the Covid-19 campaign.
- A baby can be vaccinated from 6 months if they have a risk factor, with two doses in the first year.
- Before 6 months, protection comes from vaccinating the pregnant mother and the people around the baby, backed up by everyday habits.
- Under-15s accounted for 46 % of A&E visits for flu during the 2025-2026 season.
- Any fever in a baby under 3 months, and any sign of breathing difficulty or dehydration, calls for an immediate consultation.
Sources
- Direction générale de la santé, instruction DGS-Urgent no. 2026_12 on the organisation of the 2026-2027 seasonal flu and Covid-19 vaccination campaigns, 22 September 2026; relayed by the Ordre national des pharmaciens and by Vidal on 24 September 2026.
- Santé publique France, Vaccination Info Service, “Grippe”, updated 10 March 2026.
- Assurance Maladie, ameli.fr, “La vaccination contre la grippe en pratique”, updated 27 March 2026.
- Santé publique France, “Bulletin infections respiratoires aiguës, semaine 15”, review of the 2025-2026 season, 15 April 2026.
- Santé publique France, “Surveillance de la grippe en France, saison 2024-2025”, Bulletin épidémiologique hebdomadaire no. 17, 14 October 2025.
- Assurance Maladie, ameli.fr, “Grippe : que faire et quand consulter ?”, updated 10 September 2025.
- Ministère chargé de la Santé, “Calendrier des vaccinations et recommandations vaccinales 2026”.
