Pandemic Influenza

(CIDRAP News) – The H1N1 influenza pandemic brought no "devastating surprises," but what has surprised public health agencies is the public's lack of interest in getting vaccinated, Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – During a week federal officials set aside to push flu immunization, a new report today reveals that pandemic vaccine uptake is low in two of the top priority groups—those with chronic conditions and healthcare workers.

The report outlining the challenges public health officials face in vaccinating target groups came as federal officials released their latest estimates of pandemic flu cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.

(CIDRAP News) – The use of adjuvanted vaccines, an unfamiliar technology, helped spark mistrust that may have contributed to the recent allegations in Europe that pharmaceutical companies manipulated governments and international agencies by hyping the H1N1 pandemic threat, according to a British market analyst who follows infectious disease issues.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) and vaccine makers from Europe today defended themselves against the charges of some European officials that the agency was improperly influenced by vaccine companies and exaggerated the threat of the pandemic H1N1 virus.

(CIDRAP News) – Leading public health officials and experts have sharply rejected charges from some European officials that pharmaceutical companies used exaggerated claims about the H1N1 pandemic threat to scare governments into buying unnecessary stockpiles of vaccines.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal officials and representatives from some of the nation's biggest health advocacy groups today teamed up to push the importance of pandemic H1N1 vaccination for people who have chronic medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes, and cancer.

(CIDRAP News) – Though pandemic flu activity continues to fall across much of the Northern Hemisphere, some parts of the world are hot spots for the virus, including parts of Europe, North Africa, and South Asia, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – In early August 2009, when the pandemic virus started tearing through southern states where schools had already started, the pandemic preparedness team at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota felt a sense of foreboding that the virus was poised to strike the area a second time.

(CIDRAP News) – Large trials in three countries—the United States, Hungary, and China—recently confirmed the safety and efficacy of H1N1 vaccines, yielding new insights on how to best use vaccines in a pandemic setting.

(CIDRAP News) – Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said today that the H1N1 influenza pandemic isn't over and requires careful monitoring for up to another year.