Influenza Vaccines

– ATLANTA (CIDRAP News) – Manufacturers of influenza vaccine are poised to deliver record quantities of flu shots for the coming season. But unless medicine and public health officials find new methods and venues for getting those shots into the arms of Americans, another record may also fall: the number of influenza-vaccine doses that go unused.

(CIDRAP News) – An H5N1 influenza vaccine based on a weakened adenovirus was tested successfully in mice and may offer advantages as a tool for combating a human flu pandemic, according to researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Purdue University.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has accepted the first batch of H5N1 avian influenza vaccine based on the H5N1 variant known as clade 2.2, which has spread most widely across Asia, Europe, and Africa.

(CIDRAP News) – An Indonesian health official, responding to recent comments by the US health secretary, today denied that Indonesia wants financial compensation if it resumes sharing its H5N1 avian influenza virus samples.

(CIDRAP News) – Preliminary findings from Wisconsin suggest that this year's flu vaccine lowered one's risk of catching the flu by 44%, even though two of the three strains used in the vaccine didn't match well with the viruses in circulation, federal health officials announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – Japan's health ministry today said it was on the verge of approving a plan to administer prepandemic vaccine to healthcare workers, which would make it the world's first country to tap its national stockpile for this purpose.

(CIDRAP News) – Healthcare institutions still face significant hurdles in getting their staff members vaccinated against seasonal influenza, and fear of flu infection and caring for sick family will keep many staff home during an influenza pandemic, according to research released this week,

(CIDRAP News) – A progress report released today says the US government has stockpiled enough prepandemic H5N1 influenza vaccine for 13 million people, more than double the number listed in the previous report, issued last July.

(CIDRAP News) – Starting next fall, how will the healthcare system get influenza vaccine into the arms (or noses) of tens of millions of additional children each year, given that the vaccination season is limited and many children don't have regular medical checkups?

(CIDRAP News ) – This year's influenza epidemic showed signs of tapering off last week, but flu was still widespread in every state except Florida, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.

At the same time, the CDC issued a notice aiming to remind clinicians to consider prescribing the antiviral drugs known as neuraminidase inhibitors to treat or prevent flu.