Children’s Hospitals Are Vaccinating Kids Under Anesthesia for the Flu; Some Say It’s “Irresponsible”

Children’s hospitals across the United States are quietly expanding programs that offer influenza vaccines to children while they are under anesthesia or sedation for unrelated surgeries and procedures. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) launched a program in 2023 called “Close Your Eyes. We’ll Immunize (CYEWI).” Since then, thousands of doses have been administered, including 2,000 in a recent season. Parents consent to the procedure, but there is disagreement among anesthesiologists about the safety of these programs. Pediatric guidelines in Ireland and Great Britain specifically warn about this practice.

Children’s Hospital Colorado has administered more than 7,000 doses between 2020, when it initiated the program, and February 2024. Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara, and other hospitals across the country have also established programs as a way to increase annual flu vaccine uptake.

Board-certified anesthesiologist Madhava Setty, who trained at CHOP, said this practice is “stunningly irresponsible” in an X post this week. He said anesthesiologists deliberately minimize unnecessary exposures in children so they can identify side effects from different medical interventions. Many of the children receiving the flu vaccine while under sedation are receiving anesthesia for the first time, so it is unknown whether the child has an allergy or another Idiosyncrasy.

Roughly 11-16% of children who receive a flu vaccine have a side effect of fever, about 1% receive a rash, and other rare severe allergic reactions can appear within minutes to hours after a vaccine is administered. Distinguishing the vaccine reaction from an adverse response to an antibiotic, narcotic, induction agent, or hyperthermia becomes harder to identify when the child is sedated with anesthesia. If a reaction does occur, then multiple drugs may be flagged as being responsible. This makes it more difficult for doctors and surgeons in the future who may need to utilize anesthesia when the reaction could be entirely from the vaccine.

The Association of Pediatric Anesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland recommends delaying elective surgery for 48 hours after an inactivated vaccine specifically to “avoid post-vaccination symptoms causing diagnostic concern perioperatively.” Reviews in Pediatric Anesthesia have acknowledged the theoretical risk of diagnostic confusion, but they note that major interactions appear uncommon.

Paul Offit, co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine RotaTeq and director of CHOP’s Vaccine Education Center, has frequently defended the importance of the childhood vaccine schedule while criticizing people like HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who have questioned the safety of certain vaccines. While Dr. Offit leads the Vaccine Education Center at the hospital, it is unclear whether he played a role in implementing the flu vaccine anesthesia program.

CHOP, like many large children’s hospitals across the country, has received research and collaborative funding involving pharmaceutical companies. This includes documented partnerships or grants involving Pfizer, Merck, and Bayer. A CHOP presentation celebrating the success of the CYEWI program states, “Not only did no families pay out of pocket for the flu shot, but we also generated >$60,000 in revenue!”

The presentation was created by five individuals and includes a disclosure for Elizabeth O’Brien, who is a “working group member on the AAP-sponsored INVEST Q1 Initiative.” There are no publicly available details on this initiative. The AAP has partnerships and receives payments from vaccine manufacturers, representing all of the vaccines on the childhood schedule and the three approved influenza vaccines.

The presentation describes the increase in vaccine hesitancy and the declining rates of vaccination. It also notes the Trump administration’s change to the childhood vaccine schedule from 17 down to 11, although that is now on hold due to ongoing litigation from the AAP. Influenza is one of the vaccines that was dropped into the category of shared-clinical decision making. The hospital hopes to expand the program further to include children who are sedated for any reason in the hospital system and to include other routine childhood vaccinations.

“Vaccinating children undergoing procedures with anesthesia is malpractice,” Dr. Peter McCullough wrote on X. “Reckless introduction of side effects including anaphylactic reactions while surgeons perform operations.  All for an unnecessary and grossly ineffective vaccine.  Demonstrates irrational exhuberism driving vaccinology.”

Dr. Christina D. Diaz is quoted in support of vaccination under anesthesia as the Division Head of General Anesthesia at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. The hospital announced the program on October 19, 2026, and cited the AAP’s recommendation for annual flu shots for everyone over the age of six months. Diaz is on the AAP Section on Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine Executive Committee, and her name is listed alongside an AAP statement in March regarding the organization’s lawsuit against HHS regulation that has temporarily halted key parts of the Trump administration’s update to the childhood vaccination schedule.

CHOP explains that the strongest barrier to the program is declining vaccine acceptance. The May 2026 press release says “time constraints in the perioperative setting can limit the opportunity for detailed discussions.”

A national survey of 2,603 parents published in 2016 found that only 62.7% of parents received a vaccine information statement before vaccination, 14.5% received it after vaccination, and 22.8% didn’t receive one at all. The CDC clarifies that a VIS is not an informed consent form, and some states have additional requirements for obtaining informed consent from patients.

CHOP is concerned about not having adequate time in a perioperative setting to counsel about vaccinations when parents are hesitant. Their press releases do not express any concern about having enough time to provide adequate informed consent to parents.

Setty posted a follow-up post on X with a clarification. “Though it may be easy to regard the medical professionals who are involved in this program as “evil” people whose intention is to harm, the problem is much worse,” Setty added. “These folks COMPLETELY BELIEVE they are doing the right thing, which makes them even more motivated to persist in their insanity. Further, they are in a nearly impenetrable echo chamber. I know. I work in one. While most of the medical professionals I work with every day will never agree to have another mRNA shot, they still do not hesitate to get flu vaccines despite their deplorable effectiveness and common side effects.”