Influenza Vaccines

(CIDRAP News) – The federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) today recommended influenza vaccination for all school-age children, boosting the number of children targeted for flu shots by about 30 million.

The ACIP, whose recommendations are routinely adopted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said children from ages 5 through 18 should get flu shots, the CDC announced in a news release.

(CIDRAP News) – With many of the influenza viruses now infecting people not matched well by this year's flu vaccine, a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee recommended yesterday that producers use three new flu strains in next season's vaccine, replacing all three components of this year's version.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today reported evidence of a less-than-satisfactory match between all three components of this season's influenza vaccine and the flu strains currently making people sick.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today that most circulating influenza B viruses tested so far this season don't match this year's vaccine, signaling that two of the three vaccine components are off-target.

(CIDRAP News) – As seasonal influenza makes its annual march across the country, surveillance data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals that 23% of the viruses that have been identified belong to a strain that is not included in this season's vaccine.

(CIDRAP News) – A recent study in Cambodia suggests that some human cases of infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus escape detection because symptoms are mild or absent, according to a report from an international avian flu conference this week in Bangkok.

(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: This article was modified Jan 8 to include more information about the Acambis preclinical study.

(CIDRAP News) – British technology company Acambis yesterday announced positive results for a phase 1 clinical trial of an influenza vaccine that it hopes could guard against seasonal and pandemic flu strains and end the need to reformulate the flu vaccine each year.

(CIDRAP News) – As US officials wrap up efforts to gauge the public's response to a draft plan for allocating vaccine supplies during an influenza pandemic, suggestions to fine-tune the plan are emerging, such as giving higher priority to critical infrastructure workers, the families of key healthcare workers, and community pharmacists.

Editor's note: This article was originally published in CIDRAP News as a seven-part series running from October 25 through November 2, 2007. It investigates the prospects for development of vaccines to head off the threat of an influenza pandemic posed by the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The series puts advances in vaccine technology in perspective by illuminating the formidable barriers to producing an effective and widely usable vaccine in a short time frame.