News & Perspective

If the H7N9 influenza virus now circulating in China evolves into a pandemic strain, the world is likely to have great difficulty providing adequate supplies of an effective vaccine in time to blunt its impact, according to a viewpoint article by three experts in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

(CIDRAP News) – Experts are puzzled by a new study in which influenza vaccination seemed to provide little or no protection against flu in the 2010-11 season—and in which the only participants who seemed to benefit from the vaccine were those who hadn't been vaccinated the season before.

(CIDRAP News) – Influenza vaccine over the past few months has provided moderate protection overall but didn't have a significant impact on protecting seniors, a study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed today.

(CIDRAP News) – It's been more or less an article of faith that influenza vaccination in the fall will protect a person through the winter flu season, but three studies published today in Eurosurveillance are challenging that view.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first influenza vaccine produced with the help of an insect virus and recombinant DNA technology, an approach the agency says may make it possible to start production faster in the event of a flu pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – An early assessment of this year's influenza vaccine shows it has provided a "moderate" level of protection at 62% so far this season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today. That vaccine effectiveness (VE) level is about the same as in recent seasons and as found in a recent careful meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday approved the nation's first cell-based flu vaccine, a product from Novartis that uses technology that could help vaccinate more Americans in a pandemic but still has many of the same limitations of older egg-based flu vaccines.

(CIDRAP News) – A recent editorial calling for requiring influenza shots in healthcare workers (HCWs) has stirred debate in the pages of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), with two groups of researchers questioning the quality of the evidence that the vaccinations protect patients.

Editor’s Note: This article covers research conducted by CIDRAP scientists. Please note that CIDRAP News operates independently in relation to CIDRAP's research and policy programs.