Influenza Vaccines

(CIDRAP News) – Global production of the H1N1 influenza vaccine has made clear that the world still has a long way to go to meet pandemic production capacity goals set by the World Health Organization (WHO) 4 years ago, WHO experts said in a report released this week.

(CIDRAP News) – In the wake of a pandemic vaccine that came too little and too late to blunt the second wave of pandemic flu infections last fall, President Barack Obama's science advisory group today presented a set of recommendations on how to more quickly produce a vaccine in the face of another novel flu outbreak or other public health emergency.

May 20, 2010

(CIDRAP News) – An influenza expert who formerly headed the World Health Organization's (WHO's) flu program and now works for Novartis has suggested developing a prepandemic vaccine to get the jump on the next flu pandemic—an idea that other experts are greeting with caution or skepticism.

Apr 30, 2010

Apr 29, 2010

(CIDRAP News) – Seasonal influenza vaccination coverage for the 2009-10 season surged in children and rose moderately in healthy young adults, perhaps because of increased awareness triggered by the H1N1 flu pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – In the latest developments surrounding suspected adverse reactions to the seasonal flu vaccine in Australian children, an autopsy revealed no clear link to immunization in the death of a 2-year-old, and vaccine maker CSL said it has found no evidence of a bad batch connected to cases reported so far.

(CIDRAP News) – The long-derided "swine flu" vaccination campaign of 1976, infamous for its association with cases of paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome, may have had a benefit that went undetected for more than 30 years. According to work published Apr 23, it may have protected recipients against the 2009 pandemic strain of flu.