WASHINGTON (Reuters) - All U.S. children aged from six months up to 18 should be immunized every year against influenza, a panel of federal vaccine advisers said on Wednesday.

The vote from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices would expand recommendations from the current advice that U.S. children aged 6 months to five years old be vaccinated.

The panel, which advises the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine matters, voted at a regular meeting in Atlanta and said the new recommendations should go into effect as soon as possible, but no later than the 2009-2010 flu season.

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Flu infects between 5 percent and 20 percent of the population each year and kills an estimated 36,000 Americans in an average year, most of them elderly. It can also kill young children, often previously healthy children.

The CDC said last week that 22 children had died in this year's flu season so far. Flu is active in all 50 states now.

This year's flu vaccine is considered a poor match for two of the strains. Because the virus mutates so quickly, the vaccine is usually formulated afresh each year and includes three different strains of the virus.

The CDC currently recommends that children aged 6 months to five years old get the vaccine, which will be completely reformulated for the next flu season to better match the currently circulating strains.

Other people advised to get annual jabs include people aged 50 years of age and older; anyone with certain chronic medical conditions such as cancer or diabetes; people in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities; and caretakers of any of these groups.

The CDC says 132 million doses of flu vaccine were available this year. It has gradually widened its recommendations for who should get the vaccine.

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