(CIDRAP News) The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) suggests in a new report that an increased focus on the development of vaccine adjuvants could save the US government money while improving the nation's preparedness for an influenza pandemic.
(CIDRAP News) A study conducted in Bangladesh suggests that an influenza shot during pregnancy lowers the risk of influenza both for the woman and for the baby in the first 6 months of life.
(CIDRAP News) Some healthcare experts have wondered if large mortality reductions among older people who receive seasonal influenza immunizations are real or if the findings are biased by a "healthy-user" effect. But now a study that more rigorously controlled for confounders suggests that the benefits are overstated.
(CIDRAP News) It was secondary bacterial pneumonianot the influenza virus by itselfthat killed most of the millions who perished in the 1918 flu pandemic, which suggests that current pandemic preparations should include stockpiling of antibiotics and bacterial vaccines, influenza researchers reported this week.
(CIDRAP News) Studies designed to tease out the benefits of seasonal influenza vaccines for elderly people have yielded conflicting results over the past few years, and now new findings suggest that the vaccine's ability to reduce the risk of pneumonia may be less than expected.
Editor's note: This story was updated Aug 7 to include information about the start of influenza vaccine shipments by Novartis.
(CIDRAP News) The six companies that make influenza vaccine for the US market have won federal approval for their version of this year's vaccine, in which all three flu strains used in last year's product have been replaced, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced yesterday.
(CIDRAP News) Only about 36% of people suffering from asthma received an influenza shot in the 2005-06 flu season, despite their increased risk for flu complications, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
(CIDRAP News) Australian authorities have approved an H5N1 avian influenza vaccine made by the Australian-based pharmaceutical company CSL Limited, giving the country a home-grown defensive tool if the virus evolves into a pandemic strain.
(CIDRAP News) Sanofi Pasteur pledged today to give 60 million doses of H5N1 influenza vaccine over 3 years to the World Health Organization (WHO) for a planned stockpile to help poor countries in the event of an influenza pandemic.
(CIDRAP News) A pharmaceutical company is reporting good results in the first clinical trial of an H5N1 avian influenza vaccine that uses a whole, killed H5N1 virus grown in cell culturea combination of techniques that entails some risk but may boost immune response and shorten production time.
