We could not correlate increasing vaccination coverage after 1980 with declining mortality rates in any age group. Because fewer than 10% of all winter deaths were attributable to influenza in any season, we conclude that observational studies substantially overestimate vaccination benefit.
Influenza vaccines are complete garbage. It's likely that the small benefit they might confer to young children is based on the fact that young children might not have had influenza at the time of vaccination, so their immune systems were influenza-naive.
This paper is illuminating:
Trends in Recorded Influenza Mortality: United States, 1900–2004
Peter Doshi is the man on this topic.
Here's an interesting study from 2005 as well:
Impact of Influenza Vaccination on Seasonal Mortality in the US Elderly Population
Influenza vaccines are complete garbage. It's likely that the small benefit they might confer to young children is based on the fact that young children might not have had influenza at the time of vaccination, so their immune systems were influenza-naive.