“For Preservative-Free Flu Shot, Ask in Advance”

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Reuters Health Information Services (www.reutershealth.com) (05/26/03); Mulvihill, Keith

Dr. Walter Orenstein, director of the National Immunization Program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, notes that parents should tell their doctor in advance if they want their children to receive a flu vaccine without the thimerosal preservative during the next influenza season, so that the necessary supplies are ordered. Supplies of vaccine without the mercury-containing preservative are scarcer because until last year only Evans Vaccines produced such a product. The recent approval of Aventis Pasteur's Fluzone vaccine will stretch supplies. Orenstein asserts that children are not in danger if they receive a flu inoculation with thimerosal, but he acknowledges that some parents are uncomfortable with the idea.

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