(CIDRAP News) Federal health officials today released their official guidance on allocating vaccine during an influenza pandemic, with few changes from a previous draft that put military personnel, critical health and emergency workers, pregnant women, and small children at the head of the line.
(CIDRAP News) With an endorsement from US health officials, Roche, maker of the antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu), today unveiled a program to encourage more businesses to stockpile the drug to protect employees in case of an influenza pandemic.
(CIDRAP News) The first real test of a new program to screen some arriving passengers at the Honolulu airport for flu-like illness went smoothly this week, according to an official with the Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH).
(CIDRAP News) – Anticipating that a terrorist attack, influenza pandemic, or natural disaster will someday exhaust regional or national critical care systems, an expert task force recently issued a comprehensive series of reports that takes stock of current capabilities and recommends a surge framework that would care for as many patients as possible but would necessarily exclude some.
(CIDRAP News) The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) yesterday held a live Web seminar (webinar) to provide guidance on and field questions about school closures as a social distancing tool that could be used in an influenza pandemic.
(CIDRAP News) The US government will need to expand its stockpile of antiviral drugs if the goal is to have enough doses to treat all patients and provide preventive treatment for some others at risk in an influenza pandemic, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) says in a report issued today.
Editor's Note: CIDRAP's Public Health Practices online database showcases peer-reviewed practices, including useful tools to help others with their planning. This article is one of a biweekly series exploring the development of these practices. We hope that describing the process and context of these practices enhances pandemic planning.
(CIDRAP News) Antiviral medications and vaccines are two tools that many government and health officials hope will stall the spread of an influenza pandemic, but each strategy has daunting challenges, according to a new report from Congress's Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Editor's Note: CIDRAP's Promising Practices: Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Tools online database showcases peer-reviewed practices, including useful tools to help others with their planning. This article is one of a biweekly series exploring the development of these practices. We hope that describing the process and context of these practices enhances pandemic planning.
(CIDRAP News) The 2008 omnibus spending bill passed by Congress this week earmarks only $76 million for influenza pandemic preparedness funding, far below the Bush administration's $870 million request.
The President's advisors have indicated he will sign the bill when it reaches his desk, according to several media reports.
