Find A Flu Shot

'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' for Oct. 20

So, Piffka...

Did you take the Flu Shot Ferry ride??? It appears that a lot of people have.

Children, not the elderly, 'should get flu vaccines'
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
22 November 2004


Children, rather than the elderly, should be vaccinated against influenza to protect the rest of the population against an epidemic, a study showing that the virus spreads fastest in schools has concluded.

Present vaccination policy is to offer free flu jabs only to the over-65s, but scientists have found that it would be better to target school-aged children, because they are the ones who trigger an epidemic.

A pilot scheme to vaccinate thousands of children in Texas found that when just a quarter of them were given the vaccine it led to a drop of up to 18 per cent in flu cases among unvaccinated adults.

Computer models suggest that vaccinating half the child population would reduce the chances of an epidemic among adults by two-thirds. Vaccinating 90 per cent of children reduces the probability of an epidemic to just 4 per cent.

Scientists involved in the study believe that vaccinating even a minority of school-aged children against flu would lead to a significant decline in outbreaks among the very old and the very young, who are at the greatest risk of serious complications, such as pneumonia.

Paul Glezen, professor of virology and epidemiology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, said there was little doubt that flu epidemics were spread mainly by schoolchildren and that targeting them with a vaccine was the best way to avoid a wider death toll. "There's a lot of evidence that children have the highest infection rates and that the virus then spreads from these children to their older and younger contacts," he said. "The elderly and the very young are at the end of the transmission chain so inoculating them won't have any effect on the rate of spread of an epidemic."

Even if only a proportion of children is vaccinated against flu, this could lead to wider "herd immunity" within the population at large, said Pedro Piedra, a member of the Baylor research team. "There have been studies demonstrating that children contribute to the spread of flu in families and communities. By reducing influenza in children, hopefully we can reduce the spread of influenza in the community," Dr Piedra said.

"With the current policy [of vaccinating the elderly], you only try to control mortality. If you want to control flu, our hypothesis is to focus on children."

The Baylor researchers vaccinated 20,000 eligible children in the Texas towns of Temple and Belton in 1998-99. The vaccine was delivered as a nasal spray rather injection.

Cases of flu in adults over the age of 35 in the two towns fell by between 8 and 18 per cent compared with similar communities where there was no significant childhood vaccination. Professor Glezen said this meant that there were thousands of people who did not catch flu who otherwise would have succumbed to the infection, and some would have developed more serious respiratory illnesses.

John Watson, head of respiratory diseases at the British Government's Health Protection Agency, said that any changes to Britain's vaccination policy would have to be decided by the Department of Health. "This is an interesting study that the Health Protection Agency will be keen to look at in more detail. It is well recognised that children play an important role in the transmission of the influenza virus in closed environments such as households, schools and nurseries," he said.

Japan imposed widespread flu vaccination of schoolchildren but the policy was abandoned in 1987 before epidemio- logists realised it had saved at least 10,000 elderly Japanese from respiratory diseases.

Professor Glezen said that in the US the number of people needing hospital treatment as a result of flu had increased in recent years despite an increase in the proportion of people over 65 who had been vaccinated.

"I don't think we can say we have an effective vaccination policy ... but it doesn't mean that the vaccine is ineffective. We need to target schoolchildren instead," he said.

U.S. to Import 4 Million Flu Shot Doses
Tue Dec 7, 2004


By Lisa Richwine
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health officials, taking another step to ease the season's flu shot shortage, approved the importation of up to 4 million flu shot doses from Europe on Tuesday for patients willing to sign a consent form.

The government will immediately buy 1.2 million doses made by GlaxoSmithKline Plc at a plant in Germany and distribute them to needy areas, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said. Another 2.8 million doses from the company are available for later in the flu season.

"With the latest purchase we will be able to protect more high-risk Americans this flu season in communities across the country," Thompson said at a news conference.

The government will pay Glaxo $7 per dose, Thompson said.

Because the vaccine, called Fluarix, is still considered experimental in the United States, patients will have to sign a form stating they know the vaccine may pose risks.

Food and Drug Administration officials inspected the German plant and are confident the shots are safe and effective, Acting FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford said. The vaccine, approved in 30 countries, does not have the usual full U.S. approval because that would have taken too long, he said.

Regulators have been seeking overseas sources of flu vaccine after losing almost half the country's anticipated supply in October, when one of two major makers, Chiron Corp., lost the license for its British plant because of contamination problems.

The United States now may have as many as 65 million flu vaccine doses for the current flu season. Officials had hoped to vaccinate 100 million Americans, in part to encourage more firms to get back into the U.S. flu vaccine market.

Currently, Aventis-Pasteur, a subsidiary of French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis, makes flu shots for the U.S. market. Maryland-based MedImmune also makes an inhaled vaccine called FluMist.

Flu vaccine has become a political issue, with Democrats accusing the Republican Bush administration of failing to make sure the country has adequate supplies. Experts say the problem is complicated because the government does not control which companies make vaccine, and demand is unpredictable.

The U.S. government was pursuing 1.2 million more doses from ID Biomedical Corp., but the Canadian firm said Tuesday its remaining supplies will go to the Canadian market.

GlaxoSmithKline, Europe's biggest drugmaker, said it aimed to supply Fluarix to the United States permanently. After upgrading its Dresden, Germany, manufacturing plant, the company said it hopes to supply 10 million to 20 million doses for the 2005-2006 flu season.

Crawford said he expected the United States would have four suppliers by 2007.

Some lawmakers said the administration's decision to import the flu vaccine contradicted its arguments that allowing Americans to buy cheaper medicines from abroad was unsafe.

"Hopefully this action means the administration will work with Congress to pass importation legislation soon, rather than continuing to hide behind false safety claims," Rep. Rahm Emanuel, an Illinois Democrat, said.

The flu kills 36,000 Americans and puts 200,000 in the hospital in an average year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says people over 65, babies between six months and two years, people with chronic conditions and pregnant women should get flu shots every year.

Glaxo shares were up 1.6 percent, or 70 cents, at $45.22 in morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, Dec. 9, 2004
Media Contact: Anne A. Oplinger
(301) 402-1663
[email protected]


NIAID-Sponsored Clinical Trial Aims to Boost Flu Vaccine Supply

In an effort to expand the supply of flu vaccine available in the United States in the future, a clinical trial of an influenza vaccine widely used in Europe has begun recruiting participants at four sites nationwide. Funding for the study comes from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, which is collaborating with the vaccine's manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals of Rixensart, Belgium, to conduct the study.

The new trial aims to enroll 1,000 healthy adults by December 23rd to assess the immune response and safety of the vaccine. More than 126 million doses of the test vaccine, Fluarix, have been distributed in more than 70 countries worldwide, demonstrating a similar safety profile as U.S.-licensed injectable flu vaccine, but the Fluarix vaccine has never been tested or licensed for use in the United States.

On December 7, however, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced approval of a plan to import up to 4 million doses of Fluarix to be distributed as an "investigational new drug" (IND). Under an IND, volunteers given the Fluarix vaccine must first sign an informed consent form acknowledging that they are aware of the potential risks and benefits associated with the investigational vaccine.

HHS has taken this step to augment the U.S. influenza vaccine supply because earlier this year one of the two manufacturers of U.S.-licensed injectable flu vaccine was unable to deliver its product.

"Expanding the number of influenza vaccine sources is critical as we ready ourselves for next year's flu season," says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. "The NIAID-supported Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units (VTEUs) are structured to perform clinical trials efficiently, enabling us to get needed information rapidly."

"Although the vaccine we are testing has a very long safety record in Europe and other parts of the world, the type of study we are conducting must be done before the vaccine can be licensed for use in the United States," notes lead investigator John Treanor, M.D., of the University of Rochester Medical Center. The Rochester VTEU, in addition to VTEUs in Baltimore, Cincinnati and Houston will be recruiting adult volunteers into the trial.

Four out of every five participants in the new trial will receive Fluarix, while the fifth will receive a placebo. Those receiving placebo vaccine will be offered U.S.-licensed flu vaccine at the conclusion of the month-long study.

Healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 64 who have not received a flu shot this year are eligible. Participants will visit the clinic twice in the course of the trial. The trial will be conducted at the following VTEUs

University of Rochester Medical Center
Cincinnati Children's Hospital
University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore
Baylor College of Medicine
NIAID is a component of the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID supports basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose and treat infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, influenza, tuberculosis, malaria and illness from potential agents of bioterrorism. NIAID also supports research on transplantation and immune-related illnesses, including autoimmune disorders, asthma and allergies.

SEATTLE - In October and November Americans stood in line for hours to get one of the precious few flu shots. But now that more vaccine is available - with a few million more doses expected from British and German suppliers - demand is dwindling.

Rod Watson had to cancel 1,000 flu-shot clinics in four states when the national vaccine shortage cut off his supply two months ago. Now Watson has flu shots aplenty - and he can't give them away.

Speed up bird flu vaccine, WHO expert urges
Only two companies developing shots against lethal virus
Updated: 11:29 a.m. ET Oct. 1, 2004

GENEVA - The top World Health Organization (WHO) influenza expert said on Friday drug companies and governments had to speed up production of bird flu vaccines or risk a pandemic which could kill thousands of people...

'Severe obstacles'
Only Aventis Pasteur Inc and Chiron Corp -- with contracts from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- are currently developing a human bird flu vaccine.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6149155/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4067116/

WHO warns bird flu could be worse than SARS
Health official says virus could kill millions around world
Updated: 6:01 p.m. ET Nov. 29, 2004

HONG KONG - The bird flu virus is far more lethal than the SARS virus that struck Asia last year and could unleash a pandemic that could kill as many as 50 million people, a World Health Organization official said Monday.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6608053/