Influenza Vaccines

Jun 20, 2007 (CIDRAP News) – Federal health officials last week announced the awarding of contracts totaling $132.5 million to help two vaccine producers get ready to start churning out vaccines in the event of a flu pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – Two vaccines protected chickens against Newcastle disease (ND) and avian influenza and may provide approaches for producing human vaccines against the H5N1 avian flu virus, according to two studies published in the May 26 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

(CIDRAP News) – The intranasal influenza vaccine FluMist proved to be 55% more effective than an injectable vaccine in a phase 3 trial of children aged 6 months to about 5 years, according to a press release from MedImmune, maker of FluMist.

The study, involving 8,475 children at 249 sites in 16 countries, was presented May 1 at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies in San Francisco.

(CIDRAP news) – In a human trial in France, an experimental H5N1 avian influenza vaccine with an adjuvant showed modestly better performance at a lower dose compared with a similar H5N1 vaccine that was tested earlier in the United States.

(CIDRAP News) – In an effort to modernize vaccine production while preparing for an influenza pandemic, the US government today awarded five contracts totaling more than $1 billion to develop cell-based technologies for making flu vaccines.

(CIDRAP News) – The first experimental US vaccine for H5N1 avian influenza yielded only modest results in its first clinical trial, generating an adequate immune response in slightly more than half of participants who received a heavy dose, scientists report.

(CIDRAP News) – Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt, reporting this week on preparations for a possible influenza pandemic, promised to act soon to boost US flu vaccine production capacity and promote cell-based vaccine technology.

(CIDRAP News) – A second vaccine against human H5N1 influenza is being developed, US Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt announced yesterday.

In a speech at an immunization conference, Leavitt announced that he has authorized the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to start work on a second vaccine, according to an Associated Press (AP) report published yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – Global and US health authorities have recommended two new influenza virus strains for use in the flu vaccine for the 2006-07 season.

(CIDRAP News) – A federal advisory committee recommended yesterday that children aged 2 through 4 and their household contacts and caregivers get annual influenza shots, a move that increases the number of people included in official flu-immunization recommendations by more than 16 million.