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The Topics: *Alternatives *Big pharma *Big trouble *Conferences *Conflict of interest *Diseases and their vaccines *Legal/political *Miscellaneous *Research *Vaccine-related issues Diseases and vaccines - Flu/flu vaccine March 1-7, 2004 ►March 6, 2004 - Flu alarm rang falsely, state says - Portland Press Herald - "As Maine's flu season winds down, it appears that predictions of an abnormally severe outbreak were overblown. The flu season in Maine was "not particularly noteworthy," state epidemiologist Kathleen Gensheimer said, despite reports from Western states that this year's flu strain was breaking out early and hitting hard...'There's a fine line between providing information and scaring people,' Gensheimer said. 'This story was sensationalized all the way up the channels.'" ►March 2, 2004 - New, Deadly Flu Pandemic 'Inevitable,' Experts Warn - USA Today via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract) Comment: How do they know it is "inevitable"? Do we really know why the 1918 flu pandemic occurred and that it is a repeatable event? If so, how do we "know" that? ►March 4, 2004 - Bills seek to allow greater access to flu shots - Legislation would expand pharmacists' powers to give vaccinations - Baltimore Sun ►March 4, 2004 -
Texas working quickly to solve avian flu issue - Country World News ►The Immunization of Children against Influenza can Protect the Elderly - media release - Leeds, Grenville & Lanark District Health Unit ►March 3, 2004 -
Inactivated Flu Vaccine Works in Kids Too -
Clinical Infectious Diseases via Reuters via Yahoo! ►March 3, 2004 -
Moment of
truth nears on bird flu - Asia Times ►March 3, 2004 - USDA Says Bird Flu in Texas Appears Contained - Reuters via Yahoo! News
►March 3, 2004 -
`Flu' an informative, precise look at the 1918 pandemic -
http://metromix.chicagotribune.com
- "In recent American history, the experience with flu is mostly one of minor
inconvenience and, perhaps, major discomfort...But epidemiologists, insurance
companies and an increasing number of citizens understand that the influenza
virus, in one form or another, has the potential to do much worse in the
not-too-distant future...In 1918, influenza
caused the worst pandemic in the world's history, more lethal than the Black
Death, killing more people in months than World War I had in four years." ►March 2, 2004 - Flu Season Seems Over, Officials Say (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "The flu season appears to have ended early and as abruptly as it started, and was not much more severe than usual seasonal outbreaks, federal health officials said here on Monday...'The influenza season has wound down very dramatically, declining to levels lower than we often expect at this time of year,' said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, a top influenza expert at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." Comment: So much for the benefits of creating hysteria (unless you consider vaccine manufacturer profits a benefit of vaccination). For more on this, go to How the Mass Media in the U.S. Created Flu Hysteria and Helped Drive the Vaccine Markets for the Makers of FluMist And Fluzone. - by RFD columnist Sherri Tenpenny, DO in the Online Vaccines Conference @ www.redflagsdaily.com ►March 2, 2004 -
Flu threatens
world, experts say - Pandemic risk at 30-year high, scientists report - The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Comment: From the people who just brought you the 2003-2004 flu season hysteria and who apparently believe you just can't have too much hysteria (warranted or not). ►March 1, 2004 - Troubled
FluMist Vaccine to Remain in Production - Status of Saatchi on $40 Million
Account Still Unknown - www.adage.com - "MedImmune
today said it will continue producing troubled nasal flu vaccine FluMist,
despite slumping sales and the possibility of a $75 million write-off if Wyeth
bows out of a co-marketing agreement on the drug." Comment: It may sound great on the surface, but what are the risks? For instance, it was recently reported that genetic modification of vaccines may may pose considerable problems: "Genetically engineered pox viruses in cell cultures recombined with natural viruses to create new hybrid viruses with unpredictable and potentially dangerous characteristics". Dr. Bonnie Dunbar, a vaccine researcher, testified that the recombinant hepatitis B vaccine causes serious side effects. ►March 1, 2004 - MedImmune Plans to Keep FluMist Alive - MedImmune to Keep FluMist Alive Despite Dismal Sales, Lowering Outlook for the Coming Year - AP via ABC News
►March 1, 2004 - Unexpected
Lessons Learned This Flu Season - Los Angeles Times via
www.immunizationinfo.org
(abstract) ►February 29, 2004 - Great Influenza killed quickly, cruelly, perversely - Vivid history of U.S. epidemic of 1918 is also a cautionary tale for our times (requires registration) - book review - The Providence Journal February 23-29, 2004 ►February 28, 2004 - Farm's reticence shocks officials - No Notification Despite Mass Fowl Deaths - The Japan Times - "Health and animal experts expressed shock at the news Friday that a chicken farm in Tanba, Kyoto Prefecture, did not notify officials that thousands of its birds had died despite mounting bird flu fears...The incident highlights the difficulties involved in trying to contain an infectious disease when announcing that a farm is affected is virtually certain to cripple its business." ►February 29, 2004 - Flu Vaccinations (requires registration or subscription) - letter - The New York Times - "I was upset to learn that such a low percentage of health care workers are immunized...It baffles me that health care officials would make such a big deal about the public's taking part in immunization when the people hired to help the public get healthy and stay healthy aren't even participating." Comment: This college student is right to be baffled. ►February 29, 2004 -
Thailand reports one more suspected human bird flu infection - Xinhuanet via
China View ►February 20, 2004 - Bird Flu in Pennsylvania Poses Uncertain Risk to People - Gene Analysis Is Underway for New Strain - Genome News Network ►February 15, 2004 - Avian influenza ("bird flu") and the significance of its transmission to humans - WHO ►February 23, 2004 - Egg Beaters - Flu vaccine makers look beyond the chicken egg - Scientific American ►February 23, 2004 - Flu vaccine makers look beyond the chicken egg - Scientific American ►February 26, 2004 - Experts say bird flu virus may be eliminated in a year, vaccine available soon - www.channelnewsasia.com ►February 28, 2004 - Va. worker may have caught avian flu - Fell ill as it swept the Shenandoah Valley's poultry farms in 2002 - Richmond Times-Dispatch ►February 28, 2004 -
Asia Faces Huge Cost in Bird Flu Fight - Reuters via Yahoo! ►February 23, 2004 - Is it safe? - Clarksburg Exponent Telegram - "The state Department of Health and Human Resources distributed 68,000 flu vaccine doses this flu season, with 63,000 of them containing a chemical the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has suggested be removed from childhood vaccines..Joe Thornton, state Health and Human Resources spokesman, said 5,000 were pediatric doses that did not contain thimerosal, a preservative containing mercury." ►February 26, 2004 -
Most
of nasal spray flu vaccine unsold - UPI via The Washington Times - "Eighty
percent of the new nasal spray vaccine FluMist, manufactured by MedImmune Inc.,
of Gaithersburg, Md., went unsold in the United States...MedImmune told a
federal panel Tuesday in Atlanta about 4 million doses of leftover FluMist would
most likely have to be destroyed." ►February 26, 2004 -
Scientific Tests
Led to Bird Flu Upgrade - Sophisticated Tests Led Scientists to Upgrade Bird
Flu Risk - AP via ABC News Comment: The authors of this study are to be commended for following these vaccinees for more than a month. ►February 26, 2004 - Superflu is being brewed in the lab - New Scientist - "After the worldwide alarm triggered by 2003's SARS outbreak, it might seem reckless to set about creating a potentially far more devastating virus in the lab. But that is what is being attempted by some researchers, who argue that the dangers of doing nothing are even greater...We already know that the H5N1 bird flu virus ravaging poultry farms in Asia can be lethal on the rare occasions when it infects people. Now a team is tinkering with its genes to see if it can turn into a strain capable of spreading from human to human. If they manage this, they will have created a virus that could kill tens of millions if it got out of the lab." ►February 22, 2004 - China capable of detecting bird flu in human beings - Xinhuanet via China View ►February 22, 2004 -
In Oregon: New
flu-like virus strikes in Medford - Statesman Journal ►February 25, 2004 -
Bird Flu Spread Among Humans Would Be Deadly - Human Cases Mount, but Still
No Giant Leap to Mankind - www.webmd.com ►February 26, 2004 - Study Finds Most Health Care Workers Do Not Get Flu Vaccines (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "Only 36 percent of health workers receive influenza vaccinations each year, despite a longstanding federal recommendation that such workers be immunized for their own protection and to prevent the spread of the disease, a leading health organization said here Wednesday." ►February 22, 2004 - Deadly human diseases often arrive via animals - Global travel, conditions in food processing, exotic pets cited in new strains - The News Journal via The Detroit News - "The danger of these diseases to become pandemics often has been exaggerated, some scientists said. Even so, scientists and health officials cannot ignore the possible danger." ►February 23, 2004 -
U.S. Watches Texas Farmworkers for Bird Flu Symptoms - Reuters ►February 24, 2004 - Flu vaccines reduce death rates by 40% - European Respiratory Journal via Medical News Today Comment: Unless they compared
people who were vaccinated against the flu vaccine to those who have not been
vaccinated against the flu, including those who have never been vaccinated at
all, they simply do not know what is going on. ►February 25, 2004 - Spray Flu Vaccine Is Little Used, Even With Shots Scarce (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times
►February 24, 2004 -
Universal flu shots considered - USA Today ►February 24, 2004 - Flu shots for all could become goal - Cox News Service via Longview News-Journal - "This is long overdue,' said Dr. Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who served on ACIP until last summer. 'Influenza is an infectious disease than can be prevented easily and safely, and it should be.'" Comment: First, it is important to bear in mind that Paul Offit is highly conflicted, counting among his various financial ties to the vaccine industry, being paid by them to tout their safety to doctors. Second, while the claim is made that it can be prevented easily and safely, in truth, no one knows whether the benefits of flu vaccine outweighs its risks. The benefits are assumed, and the risks either dismissed or ignored. Let's see some long-term studies comparing the flu vaccinated to the never vaccinated and then we'll have some idea whether or not the benefits outweigh their risks. ►February 24, 2004 - CDC Study: Flu Shot Effective Up to 63 Percent for Adults 50-64 - AP via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract) ►March 1, 2004 - Flu testing is usually not cost-effective - Studies suggest physician judgment may be a sounder means of diagnosing and treating influenza. - American Medical News via www.ama-assn.org ►February 23, 2004 - CDC being advised on flu shots for all - Experts mull yearly plan for vaccinations - Atlanta Journal-Constitution - "Vaccination experts who advise the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are debating a significant change in immunization policy: Suggesting or recommending that every American receive a flu shot every year...If the change becomes policy, it could - depending on the strength of its wording - more than triple the number of flu shots now given annually in the United States." Comment: What's the chance this has something to do with the flu vaccine manufacturer's demanding that the government create more demand for their vaccine? (See Flu Vaccine Makers Say Gov't Must Increase Demand.) ►February 24, 2004 - Fatal Bird Flu Diagnosed in Texas Flock (requires registration) - Reuters via The Washington Post ►February 22, 2004 - Report on avian-flu source expected - CanWest News Service via www.canada.com ►February 23, 2004 - Australian drug could combat avian flu - ABC Rural via www.abc.net.au ►February 22, 2004 - Bird Flu Comes to Texas - www.kfdx.com February 16-22, 2004 ►February 21, 2004 - Maryland Orders Poultry Farms to Test Chickens for Avian Flu before Processing - The Baltimore Sun via www.miami.com ►February 22, 2004 -
Bird
flu in China comes under gradual control: official - Xinhuanet via China
View ►February 22, 2004 -
Bird flu in cats poses no risk for humans: WHO - Daily Times ►February 20, 2004 - FluMist failure makes MedImmune rethink the vaccine business - Maryland Gazette - "The research chief of MedImmune told a House committee last week that the company may get out of the flu vaccine-production business, following disappointing sales of its nasal-spray vaccine this flu season...The Gaithersburg company, one of only three in the nation that manufacture flu vaccines, plans to destroy nearly 4 million of its 5 million doses of FluMist, said James Young, president of research and development for MedImmune. Young said it took the company 30 years and $1 billion in research and development to produce the spray...'It's hard to justify staying in the business, if we are hemorrhaging left to right,' Young said...He noted that the company even tried giving away up to 1 million doses to local jurisdictions, but there were no takers." Comment: I wonder if they did pre-development market research to see if there was demand for a product like this? ►February 21, 2004 - Mild Avian Flu Strain on Texas Chicken Farm Believed Not Harmful to Humans - The Washington Times via www.miami.com ►February 21, 2004 - Canadians ill after bird flu alert - Herald Sun - "FIVE people on a farm in British Columbia on Canada's west coast, where bird flu was discovered this week, had fallen ill with flu-like symptoms, government officials said today...But they stressed the public should not worry because the strain of avian influenza - confirmed to be a low pathogenic H7 strain - was mostly harmless to humans, unlike the H5 strain that has killed 22 people and forced the slaughter of millions of chickens in Asia...'These are five individuals who had intensive exposure to sick chickens. This is not a virus with a propensity to spread from human to human,' said David Patrick, of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control." ►February 20, 2004 - FDA Adds Potent Strain to New Flu Vaccine (requires registration) The Los Angeles Times ►February 19, 2004 - Inactive Flu Vaccine May be Safe for Kids - UPI via Comtex via www.wtopnews.com ►February 20, 2004 - Birdflu vaccine seen top priority to stop pandemic - Reuters AlertNet Comment: But what if concerns
raised in
New Scientist are true, that vaccinations may be what is at least partly
responsible for the current flu problem? ►February 20, 2004 - Bird Flu Found in Cats in Asia; Canada on Alert - Reuters - "Two domestic cats in Thailand have died of the same bird flu that has killed at least 22 people in Asia, a veterinarian said on Friday, a day after Canada announced its first case of a different strain of the virus...The discoveries have alarmed scientists who now fear the disease can spread as easily between species as it has between countries." ►February 19, 2004 - Protein helps immune system mount ’instant strike’ against deadly flu viruses - Discovery suggests that a ’live virus’ vaccine may offer best defense against avian flu - University of Rochester Medical Center via Innovations Report ►February 19, 2004 - Avian influenza strains vary, but all pose potential risk to human health - Canadian Press via www.canada.com - "The discovery of avian influenza in a B.C. chicken flock is no reason to push the panic button, but it does require quick action to protect poultry stocks and human health, experts say...The H7 strain found at the farm on B.C.'s Lower Mainland is 'leaps and bounds different from H5N1, where there's high lethality, not only in chickens but also in humans,' influenza expert Dr. Danuta Skowronski of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control said Thursday. The H5N1 strain has swept through Asia..."But what we want to do - always, whenever there's an avian outbreak - is contain it and minimize human exposure.'' ►February 20, 2004 -
Bird flu kills house cats, raising fears infected pets could pass it to owners
- Canadian Press via www.canada.com ►February 20, 2004 -
Mild Strain of Bird Flu Found in Texas - Reuters ►February 18, 2004 - Meanwhile: Echoes of panic over global disease - International Herald Tribune - "These 1838 remarks might cause us to ask whether in the age of SARS and bird flu alarms it is not time to subject the statements of certain virologists, headline writers and health bureaucracies to critical analysis by those trained in other disciplines." Comment: Interesting article. ►February 18, 2004 - Report finds inactivated influenza virus vaccines effective in children - Infectious Diseases Society of America via www.eurekalert.org - "Every winter inevitably brings with it the flu season, but kids don't inevitably have to contract the flu, according to an article in the March 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online. The report, which reviews the results of multiple studies on the effects of influenza vaccine on children, indicates that 'killed' influenza vaccine is a safe and effective method to reduce the rate of influenza in children as young as 6 months old." Comment: This is the study listed yesterday which was paid for by Aventis Pasteur, an influenza vaccine producer. ►February 19, 2004 - Imperfect flu vaccine leaves expert uncertain (requires registration) - Minneapolis - St. Paul Star Tribune - "This winter's flu season turned out to be only moderately severe despite an early start and a vaccine that didn't include the strain that caused most illness, according to government data presented Wednesday...Preliminary results of a CDC study of 50- to 64-year-olds in Colorado found those at particularly high risk from influenza got little if any protection. But a study of the families of 114 Air Force personnel who caught the flu suggests the vaccine was 40 percent effective." ►February 18, 2004 -
U.S. Experts Struggle with Flu Vaccine Questions - Reuters Health
via Yahoo! - "Various studies show the vaccine had effectiveness ranging from
none at all to 60 percent -- statistics that confounded experts trying to decide
how best to protect the public from the highly contagious virus...'It's hard to
make sense of it,' Dr. Bruce Gellin, director of the Health and Human Service
Department's National Vaccine Program Office, told reporters...'We really need
to have a system in place year to year that tracks the efficacy of the
vaccine.'" ►February 2004 - Predicting the supply and implementation strategies needed to immunize children and adolescents against influenza - journal article (Journal of Pediatrics) - "Between 5 and 10 million individuals aged 6 months to 17 years have conditions (predominantly asthma) that indicate influenza vaccination." Comment: This recommendation is particularly
interesting in light of recent findings that there is No
asthma exacerbation help from children's flu vaccination. ►March 2004 - Inactivated Influenza Virus Vaccines in Children - journal article (Clinical Infectious Diseases) - "In conclusion, the data show that killed influenza vaccines in children are safe, immunogenic, effective, and potentially cost-saving." Comment: Note that this is an Aventis Pasteur study. Among their many products are vaccines, including one for influenza. ►February 18, 2004 - Bird flu: don't eat chicken if there's an outbreak - Utusan Malaysia Online ►February 18, 2004 - Japan declares end to its first bird flu case - Reuters AlertNet ►February 18, 2004 - Asia's toll from bird flu rises to 22 - AP via The Globe and Mail ►January 28, 2004 - Official blasts study showing flu shot falls short - Influenza vaccine is at least partially effective, Health Canada doctor says (requires registration) - The Medical Posting
►February 17, 2004 - WHO
optimistic on flu - Avian bug not 'major concern' for humans - AFP via
International Herald Tribune ►February 18, 2004 -
Latching On to a Horror - Scientists fear a pandemic if the deadly avian flu
virus, which hooks into victims' cells, mutates and spreads between humans.
(requires registration) - The Los Angeles Times ►February 12, 2004 - WHO Confirms No Human-to-Human Bird Flu Infection - Reuters via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract) ►February 17, 2004 - Hygiene hypothesis questioned - Previous exposure to influenza A virus increases predisposition to asthma - The Scientist ►February 18, 2004 - No asthma exacerbation help from children's flu vaccination - Today in Vidyya ►February 16, 2004 - A flu jab for all toddlers? - The Scotsman ►February 16, 2004 - State to determine whether avian flu outbreak involved live virus (requires registration) - AP via www.pennlive.com ►February 16, 2004 -
Parents pay up for jabs - Evening Mail via icBirmingham.co.uk ►February 15, 2004 - Bird-Brained Flu Hype - New York Post - "AVIAN flu, if it morphs into a human-to- human virus, could cause another worldwide epidemic like the one in 1918, when almost a billion people got sick, 50 million died and the Great War ground to a halt. This is the public health message that has been broadcast over the media megaphone recently...The U.S. public, tired of influenza from December's over-hyped outbreak, and not that concerned about health care in other countries to begin with, isn't buying this message. But because the public is sure to buy some later message about some other hyped bacteria or virus, we must look at how public health officials choose to inform - or misinform - us." ►February 14, 2004 - Mortality from avian flu is higher than in previous outbreak - journal article (BMJ) - "The mortality in Vietnam of between 60% and 70% is much higher than the 30% mortality of the 1997 outbreak in Hong Kong, said Professor David Hui, a respiratory medicine specialist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Professor Hui is in Vietnam as part of a team of specialists who are training medical staff in infection control and treatment of H5N1 avian flu...."This is a puzzle... we are trying to find out: is the virus changing in structure? Is it becoming more virulent? Is the clinical spectrum different from 1997?' Professor Hui told Reuters Television." ►February 12, 2004 - A Review of This Year's Flu Season - Does Our Public Health System Need a Shot in the Arm? - House Committee on Government Reform
►February 15, 2004 -
State confirms avian flu in Lancaster County flock - The state Agriculture
Department confirmed an outbreak of avian flu at a Lancaster County farm, but
said the strain infecting the flock is not likely to be harmful to humans. - AP
via Nepa News February 9-15, 2004 ►February 14, 2004 - US agriculture leaders hit out Asian countries banning American poultry imports - Channel News Asia►February 14, 2004 - Thailand's PM confident bird flu is beaten - www.abc.net.au ►February 15, 2004 -
Concern as bird flu makes the jump to other species - Taipei Times ►February 14, 2004 - Flu jabs scandal puts old at risk - icBirmingham.co.uk - "Half a million elderly people in the Midlands are at risk of catching killer flu because of a vaccination flop...The prediction comes after it was revealed that less than HALF the primary care trusts in the region had hit Government targets for offering the life-saving jabs." Comment: Is the government ignorant of the fact that this year's flu vaccine probably doesn't work, or do they just don't care? ►February 13, 2004 - Bird flu strain in Pennsylvania said no threat to humans - Reuters via Forbes ►February 13, 2004 - New Flu Vaccine Provides Insight into Immunity Development, Says Stanford Researcher - Stanford University Medical Center via Business Wire Comment: Wouldn't it be better to understand immunity prior to using vaccines, rather than use them under the assumption that they both work and are safe? ►February 14, 2004 - Bird flu eradication 'may take years' - AFP via The Australian►February 12, 2004 - Chiron
to Testify to Congress on Influenza Vaccine - President and CEO Howard Pien
to Appear at U.S. House of Representatives Government Reform Committee Hearing
Today - PRNewswire-FirstCall via
http://interestalert.com - "'"Chiron is committed to meeting demand for flu
vaccine in the United States, today and tomorrow,' said Mr. Pien...'Strengthening
our public health infrastructure -- to increase immunization rates in the
inter-pandemic years -- is the single most important initiative today to prepare
for tomorrow's pandemic.'" ►February 13, 2004 - Bird Flu Vaccine Is Called Feasible - Boston Globe via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract) ►February 10, 2004 - Indonesia Importing Bird Flu Vaccine From China, Despite Concerns About Its Quality - AP via www.intelihealth.com ►February 13, 2004 -
Bird
flu viruses have geographic features - Xinhuanet via China View ►February 13, 2004 - Bird flu confirmed in Shanghai - China has confirmed seven new outbreaks of bird flu in four regions including one on the financial centre, Shanghai, previously just a suspected case. - BBC ►February 13, 2004 - Planning for a nightmare - Health Canada outlines strategy in case of a flu pandemic - Experts prepare for staggering hardships and losses - The Toronto Star►February 13, 2004 -
Officials Say Avian Flu Poses No Threat in New Jersey (requires registration
or subscription) - The New York Times
►February 13, 2004 -
FAO:
bird flu not under control yet - Xinhuanet via China View ►February 12, 2004 - Avian flu found at four New Jersey live chicken markets; officials say no danger to humans - AP via The Hannibal Courier-Post ►February 13, 2004 - Bird flu short incubation: study - AP via The Australian
►February 13, 2004 -
WHO assurance on bird flu scare - The World Health Organisation (WHO) has
dispelled fears of bird flu being transmitted by humans in Vietnam. -
Aljazeera.net Comment: "BL Fisher Note (from the NVIC newsletter): When America's free enterprise system is allowed to work properly, without government coercion, then those products the public needs and wants will be purchased and consumed and those the public does not need or want will not be purchased and consumed. That leaves the way open for other manufacturers to build a better mousetrap and persuade the public to use that better mousetrap, which is as it should be...A good example is the Prevnar vaccine. The Prevnar vaccine, without any government mandates, was the best selling new drug/biological in 2001. Wyeth can't make the product fast enough to satisfy public demand...In any given year, only about one quarter of the US population has voluntarily chosen to purchase and consume flu vaccine of any kind. Only when government interferes and mandates use of a vaccine or subsidizes manufacturers of vaccines is America's free enterprise system not allowed to work as it should. At the end of the day, the public should not be forced to use a product it does not want...There were very good reasons why the FDA did not approve FLUMIST for use in children under five or adults over 50. MedImmune and Wyeth both know why. MedImmune is wise to read the writing on the wall rather than ask for government bailout of a vaccine that the public, for whatever reasons, obviously does not want."
►February 12, 2004 -
Drug company greed hurts effort on flu (requires registration) - opinion -
The Central Florida Future - "What
Bush's privatization plan would essentially do to the U.S. pharmaceutical
landscape is put our unenviable drug dependency more in the hands of companies
whose sole interests are profits. That almost definitely will result in a drop
in vaccine availability nationwide." Comment: Can this really be happening? Are they going to get away with it? If history is any judge, they just well may. For more on the flu and the flu vaccine, go to Dr. Sherri Tenpenny's articles at www.redflagsdaily.com . ►January 15, 2004 - Jury Still Out On Flu Vaccine - HealthDay via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - "The CDC is still urging flu vaccination, especially for such high-risk persons as children and older people, because history shows that the vaccine probably is preventing the disease in many cases and reducing the incidence of complications in those who develop the disease, says Dr. Nidhi Jain, a CDC epidemiologist..."Remember, there are three different strains in the vaccine," Treanor says. "One of those strains could pop out later this year...And the record of past years in which there was a mismatch between the virus used for the vaccine and the most common strain in the population shows that the vaccine did reduce the number of infections and the potentially life-threatening complications in those who developed influenza, Jain says." Comment: Even though the CDC says "This study does not provide data that permits an assessment of the effectiveness of TIV (trivalent inactivated vaccine) against laboratory-confirmed influenza and its complications. Additional studies to provide such data are under way. Because TIV was effective against laboratory-confirmed influenza and influenza-related complications in previous years in which it was not effective against ILI (8,9), and because influenza B and influenza A (H1N1) viruses might cause serious illness later this season, influenza vaccine continues to be recommended for persons at increased risk for influenza-related complications, their household contacts, and health-care personnel.", it is still difficult to see how the CDC can continue to recommend this vaccine. This is particularly true given that their own preliminary studies confirm that it appears the vaccine is not likely to be protective. (After all, it is not as if there are no adverse flu vaccine-associated reactions reported to VAERS. Between 1990 and now there have been 20,174, probably at a minimum representing over 200,000.) That is, it is hard to fathom unless they view their primary job to be protecting the vaccine manufacturers rather than the public. And unless they have conducted studies comparing those who were vaccinated to those who were not vaccinated against the flu (breaking it down by "never vaccinated" and all the various vaccine combinations), there is simply no basis for the argument that a mismatched flu vaccine offers at least some protection against the flu. ►February 12, 2004 - Call for bird vaccinations - Chickens may get the jab to stop spread of bird flu. - Nature Comment: But if a recent article in New Scientist is correct, vaccinations may be part of the problem, rather than part of the solution. ►February 11, 2004 - Avian Influenza - Advice from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Travel VideoTelevision News ►February 11, 2004 - Spinoff of vaccine firm raises doubts on flu plan - Canadian Press via the Toronto Star - "The backbone of the federal pandemic flu plan, which will be released Thursday, is a contract to buy enough vaccine to inoculate all Canadians. But a question mark is hanging over the future of the vaccine manufacturer, leaving some to wonder how firm that backbone really is...A crucial feature of the federal plan is that Canada has secured a domestic supplier of vaccine, Shire Biologics of Laval, Que. Having a domestic supplier ensures flu shots bought, paid for and destined for Canadian arms couldn't be nationalized by another government desperate to protect its own citizens from an influenza pandemic sweeping the globe...But the British company that owns Shire Biologics is in the process of divesting itself of the vaccine manufacturer, a move that has drawn purchase offers from a number of other companies. That situation is prompting questions about how iron-clad the procurement contract is." ►January 5, 2004 - Nasal Flu Vaccine Safe for Kids - HealthDay via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - "Here's some good news for parents who have to drag their kids kicking and screaming to get their annual flu shot...It turns out an influenza virus vaccine delivered as a nasal spray protects healthy children against certain strains of influenza, says a report in the January issue of The Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine...Doctors at the Scott & White Memorial Hospital and Clinic in Temple, Texas, found children who received the nasal vaccination were protected against influenza infection during the 2000 flu epidemic." Comment: Note that the results of this study do not mean the nasal flu vaccine was protective against this year's flu. Nor, in all likelihood, was it protective against this year's flu. (Why they failed to make sure parents understood this, is beyond me.) ►February 11, 2004 - Vaccines Stockpile urged - New Zealand warning - Otago Daily Times - "Two University of Otago graduates have warned New Zealand must ready itself for the bird flu by stockpiling vaccines for the deadly disease...Dr Robert Webster and Dr Richard Webby - who now head a Memphis-based World Health Organisation laboratory for animal influenza viruses - have said there is a worldwide shortage of two drugs which can help fight bird flu, One News reported last night." ►February 11, 2004 - Genetic analysis probes bird flu's history - New Scientist - "Recent work also reveals that the virus has been mutating rapidly in response to 'unusual selective pressure' from an unknown source. Prominent virologists have warned that widespread vaccination of poultry against bird flu - as has been the case in China - could have this effect." Comment: How many new diseases are a result of vaccination? How many researchers are even looking into this possibility? How many diseases caused by vaccination are we now seeking to develop vaccines to prevent in the future? How many of these new diseases are more serious, with humans less adapted to them than the original disease for which the vaccine was designed? ►February 11, 2004 - Thailand rejects WHO criticism over handling of bird flu outbreak – www.channelnewsasia.com ►January Supplement 1, 2004 - Vaccination for pandemic influenza: a six point agenda for interpandemic years. - journal article (Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal) ►February 11, 2004 - A timely account of the 1918 flu pandemic - The Boston Globe ►February Supplement 2, 2004 - Pneumococcal resistance in perspective: how well are we combating it? - journal article (Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal) ►February 2004 -
Safety of cold-adapted live attenuated influenza vaccine in a large cohort of
children and adolescents - journal article
(Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal) ►February 10, 2004 -
Bird flu linked to 1918 pandemic - The Telegraph, UK ►February 9, 2004 - WHO says bird flu problem may take couple of years to contain - Canadian Press via http://cnews.canoe.ca ►February 9, 2004 - With diseased animals, disposal isn't simple - New York Times News Service via www.abs-cbnnews.com ►February 9, 2004 - Wyeth Sniffs at U.S. Warning That Grounded Flu Drug Sales - Financial Times via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract) ►February 9, 2004 - 'Respiratory etiquette' cuts spread of disease - Evansville Courier & Press via Healthy News ►February 9, 2004 - Where's the Flu Bug? - www.kndu.com - "This is usually the time of the year when the flu bug is hitting the hardest...But after an early start, and a run on flu shots, we haven’t seen the big outbreak that was feared. It came early, and it looks like it might have left just as quickly." ►February 9, 2004 - As bird flu spreads, global health weaknesses are exposed - NY Times News Service via www.abs-cbnnews.com ►February 10, 2004 - More Singaporeans taking flu inoculations - Channel NewsAsia via Yahoo! ►February 10, 2004 - Despite drop in flu, vaccinations still encouraged - The Robesonian - "Even though the worst of the national flu epidemic seems to have passed, the Robeson County Health Department is urging at-risk individuals to take advantage of the limited number of flu vaccines still available...Bill Smith, health director, said flu season typically runs through March, and data from the past two winters show that flu activity has peaked during February and March." Comment: And in spite of the fact that they apparently do not work, even according to the CDC. ►February 10, 2004 - WHO wants more tests to ensure bird flu cannot be passed among humans - Channel News Asia ►February 10, 2004 - WHO raps Asia over handling of bird flu crisis as China reports new cases - AFP via www.channelnewsasia.com ►February 10, 2004 - EU warns Asian countries against bird flu cover-up - EU Business ►February 9, 2004 - Confidence the key in fight against bird flu - China Daily - "As the highly contagious bird flu virus spreads across Asia, the affliction has become embedded in the popular lexicon through media reports and ordinary conversation...The new crisis appeared when many in the region were still reeling from the bitter memories of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), and it has unavoidably triggered public panic in some places." ►February 9, 2004 - China official threatens HK media over flu reports - Reuters AlertNet - "A Chinese official has threatened to take legal action against Hong Kong's journalists over their reporting of bird flu outbreaks on the mainland, newspapers here reported on Monday...Zhong Yangsheng, executive vice governor of China's southern Guangdong province, also insisted there was no outbreak in the province's Chaoan county although it has been confirmed by the central government." ►February 8, 2004 - Wyeth says warnings hurt flu drug sales - Financial Times - "Wyeth has blamed the US authorities in part for the poor performance of FluMist, its flu vaccine...Robert Essner, chief executive of Wyeth, said warnings by the government and health groups had triggered 'folklore' that the weakened, but live flu virus used in FluMist could be transmitted to other people, causing sickness. He said Wyeth was conducting a comprehensive review of its strategy for the product." ►February 8, 2004 - No human-to-human link, says WHO - Follow-up tests on Vietnamese sisters show no human genes in virus, meaning it has not mutated to a more lethal form - The Straits Times ►February 9, 2004 - WHO says Vietnam flu is not new - Taipei Times - "The WHO said the bird flu that killed two people in Vietnam was not a new, more contagious strain, and officials here rejected claims that pigs now have the virus...Meanwhile, China has confirmed three more outbreaks among birds...The UN agency said on Saturday that 'reassuring' test results from the two Vietnamese sisters, who died earlier this month, show 'both viruses are of avian origin and contain no human influenza genes.'" ►February 3, 2004 - Ferret shortage may cause a 'bottleneck' in pandemic vaccine production: WHO - Canadian Press via www.canada.com - "Efforts to create a prototype vaccine to protect humans in the event of a H5N1 influenza pandemic may be facing an unusual problem: a shortage of flu-free ferrets...The head of the World Health Organization's global influenza program says efforts to create what's called the viral seed for a pandemic vaccine are moving along at the expected pace, but there's been a delay in getting the ferrets needed to test whether the genetically altered virus is safe to work with." ►February 3, 2004 - Asia should change lifestyle to avoid bird flu: WHO - Xinhuanet via China View ►February 2, 2004 - Public health expects fewer vaccines next year - The Gillette News-Record January 26 - February 8, 2004 (2 weeks combined due to illness) ►February 7, 2004 - Milder bird flu strain hits USA - AP via The Statesman - "Delaware officials ordered the destruction of some 12,000 farm chickens yesterday after confirming that the flock was infected by avian influenza. But state agriculture secretary Mr Michael Scuse said the flu strain is different from the one that has devastated Asian poultry stocks and killed at least 16 people...Mr Scuse said the flu strain found in the USA posed no threat to human health." ►February 7, 2004 - WHO says no human tranmission of bird flu yet - www.ctv.ca - "U.S. officials scrambled to contain the first case of bird flu found in the United States Saturday while some good news came out of Asia...The World Health Organization ruled out human-to-human transmission of the virus there." ►February 8, 2004 - Bird flu hits U.S., poultry culled S. Korea ban on U.S. chickens 'premature' - Delaware's agriculture secretary says it is "way premature" for South Korea to ban U.S. poultry products after a strain of bird flu not known to affect humans was found on a farm in the state. - CNN ►February 4, 2004 - Is the flu through? - This year's flu season behaved a lot like the month of March - in like a lion and out like a lamb. But is it really over? - News of Delaware County ►February 7, 2004 - Bird flu challenges the world's vaccine makers - Canada's main provider is 'ready to turn production on a dime' from regular flu to a pandemic vaccine, LEONARD ZEHR writes - The Globe and Mail ►February 7, 2004 - Future of FluMist vaccine in doubt after slow sales - Nasal spray, developed at U-M, didn't catch on - The Ann Arbor News►February 7, 2004 - Scientists probe deadly 1918 flu virus - www.channelnewsasia.com - "British scientists say they have solved the mystery of the world's deadliest flu epidemic in 1918 - how the virus was able to jump from birds to humans - in a breakthrough that could help efforts to control the current outbreak of bird flu in Asia." ►February 7, 2004 - Human bird flu vaccine closer - Labs in Atlanta, Memphis pass major milestone - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - "Scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis said their achievement — breaking the virus apart to remove its most virulent elements and reassembling it — is but one step of many on the road to a bird flu vaccine...If every remaining step goes as well as possible, they said, it will still take four to six months of lab work, testing and manufacturing before a safe, approved vaccine can be made and sold." ►January 26, 2004 - Hospitalization During Flu Season Not Tied to Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes (requires registration or subscription) - Reuters Health via Medscape - "Pregnant women with respiratory hospitalizations during influenza season are not at increased risk for adverse maternal or neonatal outcomes, new research indicates. Asthmatic patients were nearly 11 times more likely to be hospitalized than women without any comorbidities." Comment: What do you bet there is no revision of new guidelines recommending that pregnant women be vaccinated against the flu, now that this information has become available? (Even if confirmed by a larger study.) ►February 6, 2004 - Experts Urge Bird Vaccination Against Flu (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times►February 5, 2004 - Australian scientists hope to have bird flu vaccine within months - Australian scientists said Thursday they hoped to produce a trial vaccine within months to immunise chickens at risk of contracting deadly bird flu. - Manilla Bulletin Online ►February 8, 2004 - Dr. Abdullah Al Madani: Bird flu breeds hot debate on human safety vs economic gains - Gulf News Online - "While the flu epidemic threatens Asia's multi-billion-dollar poultry industry, the real danger lies in the threat to human life. Scientists argue that genes from the H5N1 virus could get scrambled with genes from H3N2, the virus responsible for human influenza, causing a serious threat to millions of people, as the human immune systems is not designed to cope with bird flu...The fact that the Far East is a densely populated region, has a huge number of domestic birds, and a large poultry industry makes the anxiety even more acute." ►February 8, 2004 - Bird Flu Twice as Deadly as Last Outbreak-Doctor - Reuters - " 'The data suggests it (mortality rate) is in the range of 60 to 70 percent, so we are quite shocked by this,' David Hui, a specialist in respiratory medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told Reuters Television. Last time (in 1997), the mortality rate was 30 percent.'"►February 6, 2004 - Researchers Determine Reason For Deadly Spread Of 1918 Influenza - Howard Hughes Medical Institute via Science Daily - "The explosive spread of the influenza virus during the 1918 pandemic that killed some 20 million people worldwide was likely enabled by the unique structure of a protein on the virus's surface, researchers are reporting. The newly determined structure of the viral protein reveals that the 1918 strain of influenza underwent subtle alterations that enabled it to bind with deadly efficiency to human cells, while retaining the basic properties of the avian virus from which it evolved...According to the researchers, although their findings do not apply to the new virulent strain of avian flu that is threatening to spread, they do emphasize how subtle alterations in the influenza virus's infectivity could spawn a major epidemic." ►February 7, 2004 - Bird flu: Not a food-borne virus - For an hour yesterday, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan fielded MPs' questions on bird flu, ranging from whether it was safe to eat half-cooked eggs to whether Jurong Bird Park should be shut down. - The Straits Times - "Is it safe to eat half-boiled eggs? This is not a food-borne virus. It transmits and infects through close contact with fecal material or mucus from infected poultry. So there is really no danger from eating well-cooked, well-prepared food. Any time you eat something that's half-cooked or raw, you are running a risk." Comment: Wouldn't you have to be very careful re: contamination and spread from handling the eggs, however? ►February 6, 2004 - Commentary: Float and termination of rumors about bird flu - Bird flu has been attacking and harassing some Asian countries and regions, over the past few days, suspected and highly pathogenic bird flu epidemic has also occurred in many Chinese provinces and cities one after another. Meanwhile, rumors about bird flu have surfaced one after another at home and abroad. However, this time rumors have found no market. - People's Daily, China ►December 2003 - Evaluation of clinical and immunological effects of inactivated influenza vaccine in children with asthma - journal article (Pediatric Allergy and Immunology) ►February 2004 - Impact of pneumococcal and influenza vaccines on otitis media - journal article (Current Opinion in Pediatrics) ►February 7, 2004 - WHO Examines Bird Flu Transmission - World Health Organization Rules Out Person-To-Person Transmission of Bird Flu in Vietnam - AP via ABC News - "The World Health Organization said the bird flu virus that killed two Vietnamese sisters did not contain human genes, meaning there is still no sign the virus sweeping Asia has mutated into a new, more contagious form." ►February 7, 2004 - Israeli vaccine on trial that might foil the flu - Jerusalem Post Internet Edition - "If clinical trials on an Israeli-developed nose drop vaccine for influenza prove as successful as those that are nearing completion on mice, people of all ages will be protected for five years against all present and future strains of the flu." ►February 7, 2004 - Bird Flu Detected in U.S. as Virus Wanes in Asia - Reuters - "The first case of bird flu appeared in the United States just as hard-hit Thailand said it hoped to clear the last outbreak of an epidemic that has killed 18 people and decimated poultry flocks across Asia...More than 12,000 chickens have been quarantined in the U.S. state of Delaware and are due to be destroyed after they were found to have a strain of the virus which differs from the one that has killed people in Thailand and Vietnam, the Delaware State News reported on its Web site." ►February 6, 2004 - `Arrogant' Yeoh ignores bird flu risk: lawmakers - The Standard, China - "Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Yeoh Eng-kiong was accused by legislators yesterday of arrogantly ignoring and downplaying the threat of bird flu...They said his inaction in the face of a possible global outbreak that could spread to humans showed he had not learned the lessons from last year's Sars outbreak that claimed 299 lives." ►February 2004 - Further reflections on the recent influenza epidemic (requires registration) - A new-school approach to an old-school problem revisited. - Infectious Diseases in Children ►February 6, 2004 - Virus threat dwarfs SARS - The Australian - "THE Australian scientist who led the World Health Organisation fight against SARS in China warned yesterday that Asian bird flu was "1000 times worse" than that deadly outbreak...John McKenzie said the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which has killed 17 people in Southeast Asia and forced the slaughter of millions of birds, represented 'the worst scenario possible' for a worldwide flu pandemic." ►February 6, 2004 - Influenza outbreak subsides - www.observer-reporter.com ►February 7, 2004 - Bird flu out of control in Asia - Reuters via www.theage.com.au ►February 6, 2004 - Expert says bird flu epidemic in humans unlikely - www.abc.net.au - "A World Health Organisation representative in one of the countries worst hit by the avian flu says there are no signs of the human epidemic which experts fear...Vietnam has recorded 13 of 18 deaths attributed to the flu and its health service is stretched because of the crisis. But the WHO says that given the extent of the outbreak in Vietnam, it's surprising there haven't been more human infections." ►February 6, 2004 - Two deaths in Vietnam raise flu toll to 18 - AP, AFP via The International Herald Tribune ►February 6, 2004 - Animal health body says bird flu in pigs possible - Reuters AlertNet - "The world animal health body OIE said on Friday it would not be surprised if pigs in Asia tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus, although the U.N. in Rome dismissed earlier reports of confirmed cases in Vietnam...A U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization official in Vietnam said earlier that three or four pigs had tested positive after finding the H5N1 avian flu virus in their nasal cavities...But an FAO scientist in Rome disputed the findings." ►February 5, 2004 - Scientists at Scripps Research Institute describe structure of receptor on surface of 1918 flu virus - Scripps Research Institute via www.eurekalert.org ►February 6, 2004 - Bird Virus Linked to 1918 Flu Pandemic - Researcher: Jump to humans was 'simple' - HealthDayNews via Dr. Koop ►February 6, 2004 - U.N. Experts Seek to Dampen Fears That Bird Flu Has Spread to Pigs in Vietnam - AP via ABC News - "U.N. experts sought to dampen fears Friday that bird flu had spread to another species after tests found the virus in the snouts of pigs in Vietnam. Two more people died of the disease, bringing the human death toll to 18...The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said the results do not necessarily mean the pigs are infected. The tests nasal swabs may merely be confirming the presence of infected chicken droppings on their snouts. Swine are often housed with poultry in traditional family farms in Asia." ►February 6, 2004 - Researchers in Norfolk studying effects of flu on elderly (requires registration) - www.wvec.com - "Research in Hampton Roads is offering hope for new and better vaccines to protect the elderly from the flu. In Lewis Hall at Eastern Virginia Medical School, local researchers also study other viruses in hopes of developing new vaccines and treatments to help the elderly stay well...One fact is clear: the healthier you are the better your immune system fights infection." Comment: Of course, "the healthier you are the better your immune system fights infection". How you create such health is the question. And for many people, the answer is not through vaccination. ►February 2004 - Influenza mortality in children under investigation (requires registration) - The CDC is continuing to investigate whether influenza killed a disproportionate number of children this year. - Infectious Diseases in Children - "The CDC is aware of at least 93 deaths from influenza in patients 18 years of age or younger this winter, but the implications of that figure are still under investigation, the agency said in a report...Complicating the analysis is that influenza-related mortality is not a nationally reportable illness. CDC estimates of child and adolescent mortality are based largely on mathematical modeling, and there have been no reliable studies to date measuring rates of childhood deaths from influenza in a given year...According to the CDC, during the 1999 to 2000 influenza season, there were approximately 92 influenza-associated respiratory and circulatory deaths among children 5 years of age or younger." Comment: As I noted when this was reported earlier, according to the New York Times article Flu Has Killed 93 Children, but Comparisons Are Difficult, "Influenza has killed 93 children since October, but there is no way to determine whether this season is more severe for children than earlier years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday." According to the CDC, however, mathematical modeling predicted about 92 influenza related deaths each year for the period 1990-1999 just among children less than 5. Although not based on serological confirmation, it suggests that the recent numbers are still below what might be predicted or expected. ►February 2004 - 2003-04 flu vaccine may not prevent ILI (requires registration) - Infectious Diseases in Children ►February 4, 2004 - China is potential breeding ground for avian flu, human influenza - KRT Wire via Chicago Tribune via www.kansascity.comn ►February 4, 2004 - WHO warns no part of Asia safe from bird flu as death toll hits 15 - www.channelnewsasia.com ►February 5, 2004 - Bird flu toll grows to 15 - International Herald Tribune ►January 29, 2004 - H5N1 vaccine strain in a week - Using reverse genetics, WHO thinks a prototype bird flu strain likely to be ready in a week - The Scientist ►February 4, 2004 - Experts meet for avian-flu talks - Gathering Rome aims to help nations affected by disease, prevent its spread - AP via The Globe and Mail ►January 27, 2004 - Flu a bigger threat than Aids? - www.news24.com - "World health officials have a store of evidence to back their warning on Tuesday that if bird flu mutated into a more contagious form it could kill millions of people...That assertion may seem overblown to those for whom influenza is just a cold with attitude - a bad case of the snuffles with fever, headache, coughing and muscular aches thrown in for good measure...But the truth, say researchers, is quite darker...Flu is a changeling, a survivor, a stealthy assailant which, in its most pathogenic strain, could rip around the world."►January 27, 2004 - Influenza deserves more respect as killer - Kalamazoo Gazette via www.mlive.com - "One illness -- influenza -- kills as many as 30,000 Americans every year and scores of thousands worldwide... The other -- SARS -- didn't kill a single American last year and killed just 813 worldwide." ►January 27, 2004 - Pandemic influenza plan ready: Official - Program to focus on vaccine, not anti-virals or antibiotics, official says - Canadian Press via The Toronto Star ►January 27, 2004 - Bird flu closing in - commentary - The Straits Times - "THE spread of bird flu afflicting humans is getting uncomfortably close to Singapore. Thailand and Indonesia reported at the weekend mass infections among poultry. In Thailand one person, a child, has died of the ailment and another child is confirmed sick with bird flu. Health authorities there have reported 10 more suspicious cases, of whom four have died. If tests under way verify even some of these to be bird flu cases, alarm bells will start ringing across South-east Asia. Arresting the trend would depend greatly on quick disclosure of outbreaks and culling of chickens - the only known mass prevention method - even though the World Health Organisation (WHO) confesses it has to rely on guesswork on the probability of the virus mutating into a human-to-human pathology." ►January 27, 2004 - Accusations of bird flu cover-up in Indonesia - www.abc.net.au - "When chickens in Indonesia began dying by the thousands last September, Matin Malawla and other senior veterinary researchers feared the worst. By November they had the results from overseas that they say conclusively showed the birds were dying not from Newcastle disease, as the Government was declaring, but from the virus H5N1 – the same deadly bird flu that has since killed poultry and humans further west in Asia...When they took those results to the Government in Jakarta though, the reaction wasn't what they expected." ►January 26, 2004 - Concern About Bird Flu, But Where Is The Concern About Using Avian Cell Cultures To Create Vaccines? - Comment by RFD Columnist, Sandy Mintz - www.redflagsdaily.com ►January 26, 2004 - Taiwan suspects mild avian flu as bird deaths mount - Reuters AlertNet ►January 26, 2004 - Timeline: Bird flu crisis unfolds - Since South Korea confirmed a bird flu outbreak in December, authorities have been scrambling to crack down on a disease which has already resulted in human deaths and is ravaging chicken farms in Asia. - CNN ►January 26, 2004 - Wary Japan extends bird flu ban - Japan's agriculture ministry says it has suspended imports of chickens and chicken products from Indonesia and Cambodia due to outbreaks of the avian influenza virus in the two countries. - Reuters via CNN - "The ban will remain in force until the two countries confirm the disease is under control, the ministry said." ►January 26, 2004 - Aggressive action helps HK stave off bird flu - The Standard, China January 19-25, 2004 ►January 24, 2004 - New flu strain may follow lull - Clinics get fresh vaccine supplies - The Sun News via www.myrtlebeachonline.com - "The flu that swept through the Carolinas with a vengeance in December is no longer widespread, but health officials say another, less severe flu strain could strike the area in the next month or two." ►January 25, 2004 - Other deadly avian diseases - Avian influenza is only one of several deadly diseases which have the potential to devastate poultry populations and the communities that rely on the poultry industry for their livelihood - Bangkok Post ►January 25, 2004 - Scientists' nightmare: Bird flu will evolve into human pandemic - Canadian Press - "Their foreboding: A catastrophe they say is among the worst imaginable, a global outbreak of an entirely new form of human flu...There is no clear sign that will happen. Nevertheless, avian influenza's sudden sweep through Asia, along with its tendency for wholesale mutation, leave many wondering about the bug's potential for rampant spread among humans. It is a possibility the medical journal The Lancet calls 'massively frightening.'" ►January 24, 2004 - Bird flu: What you need to know - CNN►January 26, 2004 - Flu outbreak is instructive - Bangkok Post - "The government has learned a costly lesson from its attempt to cover up the presence of bird flu in the country...The Agriculture Ministry initially attributed the death and culling of millions of chickens to fowl cholera and bronchitis. But it was forced to accept the truth after the Public Health Ministry confirmed that two people had contracted bird flu, one in Kanchanaburi and the other in Suphan Buri...One cannot hide the truth, particularly when it involves an incurable disease. China learned this the hard way when it tried to cover up last year's outbreak of Sars."►January 25, 2004 - Thai Government Suspected Bird Flu Two Weeks Ago - The Scotsman - "Thailand’s prime minister admitted today that his government suspected “a couple of weeks” ago that bird flu had hit its billion-dollar poultry industry, but did not tell the public in order to avoid panic."Comment: Ah yes, the tried and true, "Ostrich Policy".►January 25, 2004 -
WHO Is Alarmed by Spread of Avian Flu in Southeast Asia
|
Vietnam's most recent fatality shows that the virus leaped from the north of the
country to the south. Officials say it could outstrip SARS. (requires
registration) - The Los Angles Times | Flu vaccine | No flu vaccine | Total | |
| Got the flu | x/% | x/% | x/9% |
| Did not get the flu | x/% | x/% | x/91% |
| Total | x/35% | x/65% | x/100% |
►December 26, 2003 - Flu 'widespread' in all but 5 states, CDC reports - AP via www.sunspot.net
►December 23, 2003 - Many believe flu shots unnecessary - Capitol Hill Blue - "Health officials are looking for ways to build public interest in the flu vaccine so more doses will be available in future years, Dr. William Schaffner of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases said."
Comment: Huh? Create more demand in order to decrease shortages? Probably the only reason there wasn't enough flu vaccine this year was because hysteria was created about the flu and availability of the flu vaccine. Had this hysteria not been created, there would have been (more than) enough vaccine for everyone who wanted it. It sure seems as if this entire exercise is mostly a (somewhat) disguised attempt to sell more vaccines and at the same time try to ensure there will be no excess supply (although were they to increase demand, there is no reason to assume that the increased demand would necessarily be any more predictable than it is now).
►December 23, 2003 - Many Americans at High Risk from the Flu Have Not Gotten Vaccinated This Season - One in 10 Americans Report Difficulty Involving Shortages - Harvard School of Public Health
►December 22, 2003 - However deadly, flu remains 'unreportable' - AP via Newsday - "A 3-year-old who died Thursday at a Paterson hospital may have been the first child in New Jersey to die of the flu this season...But state officials acknowledged Monday that even if they knew for sure that complications from influenza killed the little girl, they could not be certain that Brianna Marie Mantilla of Paterson was the first child in New Jersey to die from the virus this year...That's because influenza is an unreportable disease _ one that doctors, hospitals and other providers are not required to report to state or federal health agencies."
►December 22, 2003 - Ottawa tries to calm fear of the flu - While the influenza season hit early this year, particularly in B.C. and Ontario, it's not out of control, officials say - CanWest News Service via http://canada.com►December 22, 2003 - Shots for Teens - HealthDayNews via Yahoo!
►December 22, 2003 - Don't panic about flu, some advise - Prevention: Common sense goes a long way toward maintaining a strong immune system - "Most of the mercury-containing preservative, thimerosal, was eliminated from flu vaccines after 1999, though some manufacturers use it in trace amounts, said Rhonda Smith, spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)."
Comment: This appears to be a good example of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing since, also according to the CDC, there is still thimerosal in the flu vaccine, and according to Johns Hopkins University's Institute for Vaccine Safety and at least one flu vaccine manufacturer (Aventis Pasteur), there is still the same old 25
micrograms of thimerosal that there always was. (Actually there is now at least one exception.) Kind of makes you wonder what else they are telling us that isn't true and what the truth even is.►December 24, 2003 - 'Flu Shots' Sold to Georgia Didn't Exist - AP via The Herald-Sun - "Faced with nationwide flu shot shortages, Georgia health officials came across an offer they couldn't refuse -- 100,000 extra flu shots for a hefty $1.65 million...They wired the money. But the flu shots never came -- they never existed, state officials said Wednesday... Georgia has received all but $70,000 of its money back with the help of the FBI. The rest of the money is expected to be returned in the next few days."
►December 24, 2003 - Taking a Shot at Easing Parents' Latest Big Fear - Washington Post - "
His mother, Rosina Chazin, is sitting on a wooden bench examining the paperwork, which discloses, among other things, that influenza causes an average of 36,000 deaths in the United States every year, though 'mostly among the elderly.'...Comment: And how to create it!
►December 23, 2003 - FDA Probing Unlicensed Flu Vaccine Reports - Reuters - "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday it is looking into reports of unlicensed influenza vaccine being peddled by some trying to take advantage of reports of vaccine shortages...Three influenza vaccines have been authorized by the FDA, shots made by Aventis Pasteur and a unit of Chiron Corp. as well as the nasal spray FluMist made by MedImmune Inc."
►December 24, 2003 - Unapproved Foreign Flu Vaccine Peddled in U.S. - The New York Times
►December 23, 2003 - Vaccines in the News -
War Declared Over Anthrax Vaccine/Flu Panic and Profits - by Randall Neustaedter OMD - Natural Health Newsletter►December 23, 2003 - FDA Probing Unlicensed Flu Vaccine Reports - Reuters - "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday it is looking into reports of unlicensed influenza vaccine being peddled by some trying to take advantage of reports of vaccine shortages...Three influenza vaccines have been authorized by the FDA, shots made by Aventis Pasteur and a unit of Chiron Corp. as well as the nasal spray FluMist made by MedImmune Inc."
►December 22, 2003 - Increasing demand for nasal vaccine - The Journal News - "The first time the Katonah Pharmacy held a clinic to offer the new nasal flu vaccine, only four people showed up...That was in October, when the supply of the standard vaccine was thought to be ample, and before the large-scale influenza outbreaks in the West and the highly publicized stories of healthy children dying of the flu...At another clinic on Saturday, 60 people filed through the drug store to have the vaccine, FluMist, squirted in their nostrils."
Comment: For more on how this "increasing demand" came about, go to How The Mass Media In The U.S. Created Flu Hysteria And Helped Drive The Vaccine Markets For The Makers Of FluMist And Fluzone. - by RFD columnist Sherri Tenpenny, DO in the Online Vaccines Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com
►December 23, 2003 -
FDA Investigating Reports of Unlicensed Influenza Vaccine - FDA Talk Paper►December 22, 2003 - Flu warning - The Scotsman - "According to the Health Protection Agency, the type of virus in this year’s flu vaccine was slightly different to the one that has affected thousands of people in the past month...Millions of people vaccinated against flu may not have full protection of the Fujian strain of AH3N2. Doctors say this strain is more virulent than the Panama strain and has a higher mortality rate among young and old people. The Health Protection Agency intends to carry out tests to determine the extent of the problem. There has already been one outbreak of flu in an old people’s home where residents would routinely have been vaccinated...There are also reports that adult males seem to be away from work and suffering from flu a lot more than their wives. Some doctors suggest this is because young mothers pick up lots of infections from close contact with their children. Within a year or two, these women acquire immunity to many viruses...Other doctors have suggested that perhaps men don’t have such efficient immune systems."
►December 21, 2003 - Health Officials Investigating the Flu in Death of 13-Year-Old Girl - First Coast News
►December 22, 2003 - Weekly Report of New Colorado Cases Shows Slight Decline - State of Colorado CDPHE
►December 21, 2003 - Parents of Flu-Sickened Children Encounter More Problems than Remedies - First Coast News
►December 22, 2003 -
Experts urge action to ensure nation always has flu vaccine - Billings Gazette via South Florida Sun-Sentinel - "Some specialists want the government to encourage companies to make more vaccine, by buying and stockpiling millions of extra doses every year or guaranteeing their sale, even at the risk that millions of tax dollars worth of vaccine would be wasted...Others suggest the government stabilize the demand by more aggressively urging people to get an annual flu vaccination, perhaps making it mandatory to get into school."Comment: Isn't there something terribly wrong with a policy designed to stabilize demand by demanding product use?
►December 22, 2003 - Flu outbreak 'may have passed peak' - Health officials suggest the worst is already over - Canadian Press - "While the flu season arrived earlier than usual, and appears to be more severe than in the past three seasons, "current national and international data indicate that its impact is still within the expected range," Health Canada said in a statement posted on its website."
►December 15, 2003 -
Spotlight shifts to flu drugs -
As vaccine supplies dwindle, doctors say antiviral medications can cut illness
short or even prevent onset. - LA Times (requires registration)
►December 2003 - Influenza vaccination options to prevent hospitalization - journal article (Paediatrics & Child Health)
►December 20, 2003 - CDC examines Colorado flu cases -Two new deaths believed linked to outbreak; more vaccinations urged - Denver Post
►December 20, 2003 - CDC asks states to report all child flu deaths in likely epidemic - AP via www.news24houston.com
►December 20, 2003 - Mounting CDC Flu Concern: Kids - "The child deaths from flu are very sobering and very worrisome" CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding - AP via www.cbsnews.com
►December 20, 2003 - Flu blamed for dip in blood donations - AP via Casper Star Tribune
►December 21, 2003 - With Flu in Air, Civility Is Grounded - The Washington Post via The Tampa Tribune
►December 21, 2003 - Number of flu cases declines in Texas - AP via Abilene Reporter-News
►December 20, 2003 - Flu virus continues rapid spread - Danville Register Bee
►December 20, 2003 - Is US flu worse than usual? - At least 40 per cent of the children who died had other medical conditions that made them vulnerable, such as asthma or cerebral palsy - www.itv.com
►December 18, 2003 - 'Reverse genetics' could offer forward-thinking flu vaccine - Early influenza surge has highlighted shortfalls in current jab. - Nature
►December 21, 2003 - Fighting the Flu in Hand-to-Hand Combat -
Officials Urge the Public to Limit Physical Contact and Wash, Wash, Wash - Washington PostDecember 15-21, 2003
►December19, 2003 - Flu-vaccine sellers jab buyers with sharp increases in price - St. Louis Post-Dispatch via The Seattle Times - "Unprecedented demand for the flu vaccine has caused its price to skyrocket from $40 for a 10-dose vial two months ago to as high as $215 today, leading to charges that companies are price-gouging health agencies amid fears of an unusually harsh flu season...'It's pretty clear someone is being taken advantage of here," said Sue Denny with Missouri's state immunization program, "and it's easy to see who.'"
►December19, 2003 - US Checking to See if Flu Season Worse Than Usual - Reuters Health
►Flu in Denver, Year 2003 - Toxicological Considerations (work in progress) - by Jim West - ww.geocities.com/harpub/flu2003.htm
►December20, 2003 - Health officials offer advice on use of nasal flu vaccine - North County Times - "As with the flu shot, the mist's vaccine doesn't exactly match the flu virus that has sickened thousands throughout the state, so doctors don't know how well the mist protects against this year's flu...But the supply of flu shots has dried up in most areas, and health officials say the mist may be a good last resort for healthy people who want at least some protection against the virus..."It's not the best option, but if it comes down to preventing an epidemic, I guess it's probably better than nothing," said Bill Mastin, chief pharmacist for the agency."
Comment: Not exactly a ringing endorsement.
►December19, 2003 - Flu-vaccine prices spikes with demand, deaths - Some pay more than twice the normal cost - The Denver Post - "Flu vaccine is becoming a hot commodity, with the tiny vials selling for up to $300, two-and-a-half times the normal price, in some parts of the country...At the beginning of the season, manufacturers on average charged $85 for a vaccine containing 10 doses...Things aren't quite so bad in Colorado. State health officials recently paid $165 a vial, nearly double the early-season $85...That, they said, was the best deal available after an early and deadly flu season led to a vaccine shortage."
►December20, 2003 - Health officials declare flu an epidemic - Newsday via The Seattle Times - "The nationwide sweep of influenza now has been classified by federal health officials as an epidemic in the wake of 42 youngsters' deaths and 36 states reporting widespread flu...The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is urging people not to overwhelm emergency rooms because most influenza infections can be treated successfully at home...The number of flu cases technically has not surpassed the threshold to declare an official epidemic in the United States...But CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding, who long had avoided using the "e" word, yesterday called the nationwide influenza outbreak a bona fide epidemic. 'From a practical perspective, given the number of people affected, it's fair to characterize it as an epidemic,' she said."
►December20, 2003 - Flu has killed 42 children, teens, CDC says - Washington Post via www.azcentral.com - "Because the federal government doesn't usually collect statistics on flu cases and deaths, Gerberding said it remains unclear whether more children are dying this year than in previous years. But the fact that the agency has taken the unusual step of collecting the data this year and for the first time released a tally is a sign of concern among federal health officials."
►December20, 2003 - Specter of Flu Outbreak Haunts Doctors - The Herald-Sun - "Some U.S. hospitals are already struggling to deal with the current flu outbreak. But that is nothing compared to what would happen if a powerful new flu strain exploded into a worldwide flu outbreak, known as a pandemic...Patients would overwhelm hospitals, and the overflow would have to be housed elsewhere, such as schools -- which would already be closed. Nurses, already in short supply, could not possibly get to everyone. And there would be even fewer doctors and nurses once they, too, started getting sick...There would not be enough antiviral drugs or ventilators to take care of the elderly, who are most at risk of dying from flu."
►December18, 2003 - Fighting flu not a priority - Knight Ridder via The Miami Herald - "The flu kills 36,000 Americans a year, but the federal government spends only about half as much money on research to fight it as it spends to attack the boll weevil, a pest that eats cotton."
►December19, 2003 - Wash Hands Often, Sanitize Surfaces To Prevent Flu - www.wave3.com
►December20, 2003 - U.S. Offers Advice on When to Seek Flu Care - The New York Times - "'We want to reassure people that the vast majority of people who encounter influenza — and that's about 10 to 20 percent of us every year — do perfectly fine and there are no special health concerns other than the annoyance of having an illness for a few days,' Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, the centers' director, said in a teleconference with reporters."
Comment: Remind me, then, why just about everyone is supposed to get a flu shot? Who, exactly, does this benefit, other than the vaccine manufacturers and those with financial ties to them?
►December20, 2003 - Fear of litigation hits supply of flu vaccine - Financial Times - "These factors represent a combination of American dilemmas. Tort liability limits the number of vaccine makers. The profit potential in the vaccine market is often too low to overcome concerns over liability for illnesses that could be traced back to vaccination. And disagreements exist over the appropriate level of government involvement...Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader from Tennessee, last week told a television audience that one cause for shortages was the 'high cost of litigation - the frivolous lawsuits that come from these little, tiny vaccines'."
Comment: "Little, tiny vaccines". What harm could they possibly do? Itsy-bitsy atoms. What harm could they possibly do? How reassuring.
►December20, 2003 - CDC Activates Center to Deal With Flu - AP via Newsweek
►December20, 2003 - Flu Experts: Worst Yet to Come - http://kfab-amhealth.ip2m.com
►December19, 2003 - Rough flu season highlights economic problems of vaccine industry - AP via www.canada.com - "This year, the drugmaker again produced 43 million doses - 35 per cent more than were ordered - and it sold out. It isn't supposed to be this way. The flu vaccine business is supposed to be predictable: Customers place orders so manufacturers know how much to produce and they don't lose money throwing away unwanted product."
►December19, 2003 - CDC Checking to See if Flu Season Worse Than Usual - "'We are referring to this as an epidemic of flu like we see every year,' she told a news conference. 'I think what we are experiencing here is a typical pattern of influenza with an early onset.'..Public attention has focused on this year's epidemic for several reasons. Influenza hit the United States early and killed several children early on. Gerberding said at least 42 children have died of flu so far this year...
At least 40 percent of the children who died had other medical conditions that made them vulnerable, she said."►December13, 2003 - Empire covers kids’ intranasal flu vaccine - Crain's New York Business - "Children aged 6 months to 9 years should receive two inoculations four weeks apart for full protection against the flu virus."
Comment: This must be a mistake! FluMist hasn't been approved for use by children aged 6 months to 5 years!
►December18, 2003 - Bayh Proposes Flu Protection Law - WTWO News - "It would require the Centers for Disease Control to do a better job of predicting the number of flu shots needed each year."
Comment: How on earth can you require the CDC to predict the future better?
►December18, 2003 - No autopsy sought for infant - The Cincinnati Enquirer - "Olivia had received half a dose of the flu vaccine this fall, the dosage recommended by her doctor, her parents said."
Comment: Do vaccinated infants and children die because of the flu vaccine or in spite of it? We'll never know the answer to this question until and unless properly designed population studies comparing the vaccinated to the never vaccinated are conducted.
►December12, 2003 - Update: Influenza Activity --- United States, 2003--04 Season - CDC/MMWR
►December17, 2003 - Health council: Flu not a crisis - www.mass.gov via www.townonline.com - "There is no precise count of flu cases in the state because so few illnesses are reported to doctors, but officials said they have investigated 17 outbreaks - identified as three to five cases clustered in one location - mostly in nursing homes but also in several schools. Emergency rooms, already crowded with slip-and-fall accidents after a week of icy weather, are nearing capacity, with many reporting a spike in flu cases, health officials said."
►December18, 2003 - Experts: Flu worst in 30 years in West - Could be worse that Hong Kong flu of 1968-69 - AP via Daily Southtown - "The current flu outbreak is the worst for young U.S. children in years, several experts say, perhaps worse in Western states than the Hong Kong flu of 1968-69...A government epidemiologist and other disease doctors predict flu deaths among babies and toddlers will exceed the estimated 92 who die in an average flu year."
►December18, 2003 - Comments re: Flu outbreak worst in 30 years in the West, experts say - The Daily Herald
►December17, 2003 - Race May Be Factor in Who Gets Flu Shots - HealthDayNews via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - "Older black Americans have drastically lower flu vaccination rates than older white Americans, says a Duke University Medical Center study in the online journal BioMed Central Public Health."
►December19, 2003 - Flu
is spreading but exact numbers are hard to pin down - AP via Sun-Sentinel -
"How many will have died when it is over? Probably tens of thousands. Beyond
that, exact numbers are hard to pin down...The reason: Most people who catch the
flu never go to a doctor. And even if they do, they usually never get a definite
diagnosis...The flu is difficult to distinguish from other winter viruses. In
most cases, there is little reason for doctors to go to the trouble of
identifying the culprit, which traditionally has required growing the virus in a
culture, a process that takes two weeks...Even if they do, chances are good they
will find nothing."
Comment: But, hey, why should the fact that we don't know
if it is an epidemic, or if more or less people are dying than usual, or even if
it is flu that people are getting, prevent the media and others from creating
hysterical demand for the flu vaccine?
►December19, 2003 - Flu is now rampant in 36 states, CDC says - Tens of thousands may die. A true toll will be hard to get since many never go to the doctor. - AP via The Philadelphia Inquirer
Comment: Probably didn't go to the doctor because they got over it just fine without one.
►December18, 2003 - Flu-research money lags other diseases - Knight Ridder Tribune via Tallahassee Democrat - "The flu kills about 36,000 Americans a year, but the federal government spends only about half as much money on research to fight it as it spends to attack the boll weevil, a pest that eats cotton."
►December18, 2003 - One in three children could get flu this winter - www.ananova.com
►December18, 2003 - More Than Flu Vaccine Shortages - JAMA via Ivanhoe Newswire via www.drkoop.com - "In their new report, NVAC members say, beginning in late 2000, significant "unprecedented and unanticipated" shortages of routinely administered vaccines occurred in the United States. They say 11 childhood diseases are routinely prevented through vaccinations. Of those, eight vaccines were undersupplied."
►December2003 - Pandemic flu vaccine trials and reverse genetics: foundation for effective response to next pandemic - NIH officials are hoping to ensure an adequate global supply of influenza vaccine. (requires registration) - Infectious Disease News - "When the last influenza pandemic occurred in 1968, the NIH conducted several clinical trials of inactivated vaccines. The studies had little practical impact because few doses of influenza vaccine were then being used in the United States and other countries. The current situation is very different. In the United States, approximately 90 million doses of influenza vaccine will be used this year. Vaccine coverage among the elderly exceeds 65%, vaccination is increasing among younger adults and recommendations have recently been issued strongly encouraging vaccination of children."
►December19, 2003 - Flu Becomes Widespread in 12 More States, for Total of 36 - The New York Times - "Though many emergency rooms in the United States are filled with patients who suspect they have influenza, only about a third have it, the agency said in its weekly report...Some reports, particularly from Western states that were hardest hit early in the season, focused on children becoming seriously ill from the flu. Previously healthy children developed severe brain inflammation or breathing difficulty, requiring support from mechanical respirators and treatment in intensive care...But 'we truly do not know if this is a worse than usual influenza season in children,' said Dr. Margaret B. Rennels, chairwoman of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases...'But there is no indication that children are experiencing a higher-than-usual death rate this year', he (Dr. Pavia) said.'"
►December19, 2003 - The Rural Life: Quarantine (op-ed) - The New York Times - "ike half of America, I came down with the flu recently. That means quarantine at the top of the house, in a spare bedroom with a view of the sugar maple and the pasture beyond it, where the horses are standing in falling snow. I was raised to believe that sleep is a sovereign remedy for everything but death itself, so I drift between waking and sleeping, visited mostly by one of the cats, who likes the third floor — a converted attic — as much as I do."
►December19, 2003 -
US flu vaccine producers get $85m boost - Fund will help manufacturers ramp up output via animal-cell technology - The Straits TimesInfluenza Virus Vaccine - Fluzone® 2003 -2004 Formula (pdf)
►December18, 2003 - Flu spreads across U.S. but no epidemic yet: CDC - Reuters - "Influenza is now widespread in 36 U.S. states and has been found in all 50, but the outbreak is not yet an epidemic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday...People may be filling hospital emergency rooms thinking they have flu, but only about a third of suspect cases actually are influenza, the CDC said in its weekly report on death and disease."
►December18, 2003 - Why U.S. supply of flu vaccine fell short - Knight Ridder via The Seattle Times - "What went wrong?...U.S. health officials and drug companies say it was mostly bad luck, and the difficulties inherent in making vaccines...Critics say it was flawed decisions by both of the above. And they say officials should be more candid that this year's flu vaccine was formulated to protect against three older strains of the virus, but not against the new strain racing across the country."
►December19, 2003 - Vaccine shortage a question of timing - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - "If international health officials had discovered the Fujian strain of influenza a little earlier or if manufacturers had been able to speed up production, perhaps there would have been time enough to make a vaccine that was both the right type and the right quantity...That's not the case now."
►December18, 2003 - EBay pulls plug on sale of flu shots - The Boston Globe - "'Sure, this is unethical, but it's not a lot different from stuff we do in medicine every day,' Annas said."
►December17, 2003 - Flu panic proves contagious - www.townonline.com
►December18, 2003 - Virulent Flu Virus Threatens; Leading Homeopathic Medicine Offers Serious Relief - PRNewswire via Yahoo!
►December17, 2003 - More to Come From the Flu This Season, Experts Say - New York Times via Star Banner - "The full impact of this season's influenza is yet to be felt, particularly in the East, federal health officials said yesterday... 'We are probably in for a fair amount of activity yet to come over the next weeks,' Dr. Stephen M. Ostroff, a senior epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said in a telephone news conference...He did not say, however, that this would necessarily be a severe season, and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said in the same news conference that 'we are hoping that we have got the worst behind us because it started early.'"
►December17, 2003 - Md. Schools Have Soap Dispensing Dilemma - AP via Newsday - "Frequent hand-washing to fight the spread of influenza is elementary, but it's a challenge at many schools, where soap dispensers have been removed from student bathrooms to curb vandalism...Public schools aren't required to provide soap, according to the Maryland State Department of Education. Local administrators must find their own solutions to such problems, Vicki Taliaferro, a state school health services specialist, said."
Comment: Gee, maybe finding a way to provide soap to teenagers would be a better way to influence flu and other disease transmission rates than recommending universal flu and other vaccines. Wonder how many other school districts don't provide soap to their students.
►December18, 2003 - Flu Hitting Unusually Hard at Young Kids - The Cincinnati Enquirer/Post - "Flu sweeping across the country appears to be hitting unusually hard at young children, and experts say occasional reports of deaths among otherwise healthy youngsters are especially worrisome...The flu is rarely fatal for the young, although it can cause severe illness. Some doctors in western states, where the disease has been worst so far, say this may be the most intense flu season for children since the Hong Kong flu of 1968-69...Federal health authorities do not keep records on flu cases or deaths, so precise data are sparse. However, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said reports so far are troubling."
Comment: If they don't keep records on flu cases or deaths, how, on earth, can they be making these claims?
►December17, 2003 - How the Mass Media in the U.S. Created Flu Hysteria and Helped Drive the Vaccine Markets for the Makers of FluMist And Fluzone. - by RFD columnist Sherri Tenpenny, DO in the Online Vaccines Conference @ www.redflagsdaily.com
Comment: Important article
►December17, 2003 - Man gave unlicensed flu shots, state says - Registered counselor was charging $45 for each shot - King County Journal - "A man with no medical license who gave $45 flu shots here is under investigation by the state Department of Health and the Bellevue Police Department, officials said Tuesday...Officials and at least one parent are wondering if the shots actually contained vaccine."
Comment: Who knows what was in those vials?
►December17, 2003 - Two new drugs shorten flu, but rarely prescribed - Knight Ridder Newspaper via www.centredaily.com - "The drugs - marketed under the brand names Tamiflu and Relenza - can reduce the duration of the flu if taken early enough...But they've been slow to catch on among doctors and patients alike."
►December17, 2003 - Health measures can help prevent colds and flu - Toledo Blade via Scripps Howard News Service - "Will the bug that's going around come around _ to me? Does my kid's flu virus have my name on it? Will that guy coughing at work today make me sick? How can I dodge it?...The answers depend on the virus, for instance, and your own immune system."
►December17, 2003 - Flu scientist calls for new technique - 'Reverse genetics' method still needs government approval - Rocky Mountain News - "An experimental method called reverse genetics could have been used to create a flu vaccine to protect against the Fujian strain, which sparked this fall's early and intense outbreak in Colorado and other Western states, said Dr. Linda Lambert of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases...'The technology was there to make a Fujian vaccine candidate you could have given to the manufacturers,' Lambert said...But the technique, which targets individual influenza genes, hasn't been approved by regulatory agencies. Patent issues and financial roadblocks could further slow the adoption of reverse genetics and other emerging vaccine technologies."
►December16, 2003 - Run on Flu Vaccine Highlights Vaccine Woes - Reuters, UK - "The current run on influenza vaccine in United States highlights the neglected status of vaccines in general, health experts said on Tuesday -- but efforts are under way to improve vaccine technology and supply...The group also advised stronger liability protections for manufacturers; a requirement that manufacturers give advance notice if they are leaving the marketplace; and a national campaign to emphasize the safety and benefits of vaccines...'We don't value prevention in this country," said Dr. Paul Offit of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a leading vaccine expert.'"
Comment: By
"prevention", of course, Dr. Offit means vaccination, not practicing good health
practices like breastfeeding, washing your hands, eating properly, exercising,
drinking quality water, getting enough sleep, etc. And what this article fails
to mention is that while some may consider Dr. Offit an "expert", others remain
more circumspect about his credentials, given that he is
paid by the
vaccine manufacturers to teach doctors that
vaccines are safe, as well as a vaccine developer. (See
►December17, 2003 - Flu: What is all the hoopla? - by Randall Neustaedter, OMD - The Natural Health Newsletter - "'First SARS, then monkeypox, now the flu. How far can the media go in stirring up public hysteria and fear of diseases? Answer: as far as drug companies tell them. “Jump,” say the drug companies. “How high?” say their media cohorts. “High enough to sell all our new flu vaccine.'”
►December17, 2003 - Vaccinating against disaster - The Washington Times - "Parents are in a panic about getting their kids immunized as a flu epidemic spreads rapidly across America. But if Democrats (and some Republicans) get their way, the vaccine shortages will soon spread to medicines for other diseases... That's because Democrats want to apply the policies that produced the shortages — federal bulk purchase and distribution of old vaccines at government-controlled prices, combined with a refusal to pay for new technology in the name of cost containment — to every drug used for every disease, no matter how fatal."
►December16, 2003 - Congress seeks $150 million to upgrade flu vaccine production - CNN
►December16, 2003 -
Health officials warn parents to watch flu-stricken children closely - StarNewsOnline - "With two more North Carolina boys dying of influenza complications, state health officials are urging parents to keep a close watch on their children when they seem to recover from the flu...Both boys had flu symptoms for several days and appeared to be recovering until their condition worsened and they died, said State Health Director Dr. Leah Devlin...Autopsies showed the boys died from secondary infections, one a pneumococcal infection and the other a meningococcal infection...'Secondary infections from the flu can be quite dangerous, because the person is already in a weakened state," Devlin said.'"►December12, 2003 - More accurate, speedy flu vaccine years from distribution - Denver Post via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - "Top influenza researchers have developed a vaccine that they say can more accurately target any flu strain, even mutants like the Fujian bug that is sweeping mercilessly across the country...And scientists say drug companies could develop the vaccine much faster than the current flu shot by growing it in animal cells instead of eggs, where today's vaccine is born."
Comment: Given what we are learning about cross-species transfer of diseases and the difficulty in identifying and removing pathogens, is this really such a good idea?
►December12, 2003 - Flu likely a factor in deaths of elderly - Rocky Mountain News - "Several hundred of Colorado's elderly likely have died of flu-related complications in the past 30 days, a Denver geriatrician said Thursday..."It's very much underreported, even by doctors," said Dr. Greg Gahm, who tracks influenza at Colorado nursing homes. "If they meticulously tracked every death in the last month, they'd find several hundred elderly deaths, maybe more," attributable in part to the flu."
Comment: If they haven't been tracking it meticulously, how do they know when there are more or less flu deaths among the elderly?
►December14, 2003 - Vaccine for deadly flu scrapped - Experts alerted to dangerous Fujian strain, but found shot too risky - San Mateo County Times - "A leading national expert on infectious diseases told a Food and Drug Administration committee in February and again in March that it would be a mistake if this year's vaccine didn't guard against a potentially lethal strain of influenza that was beginning to emerge in the Southern Hemisphere... Dr. Peter Palese warned that the flu strain -- known as A-Fujian/411/2002 -- seemed likely to hit the United States and that drastic measures were required to protect public health. Creating a vaccine that offered only moderate safeguards against the new strain was a bad idea, he warned, according to official transcripts of FDA meetings earlier this year."
►December14, 2003 - Flu vaccine injects a dose of confusion - Questions are raised over its usefulness against the virus. - The Sacramento Bee - "'People who get vaccine have a much lower chance of dying,' said Dr. Roger Baxter, an infectious disease consultant with Kaiser Permanente. 'Vaccine is to prevent death, not to prevent flu.'"
Comment: Where on earth did he come up with that 'fact'? The only way of getting even close to knowing that would be to compare matched populations that did and did not get the flu vaccine. Although they clearly should be conducted, such studies simply are not being done.
Comment: And all of a sudden the vaccine is not to prevent the flu? What's that all about?
►December16, 2003 -
Flu, staph infection deadly - Newhouse News Service via Bridgeton News via www.nj.com►December16, 2003 - Government To Purchase FluMist at A Discount -
Deal Could Give Boost To MedImmune Vaccine - The Washington Post - "The company that makes FluMist, the needle-free influenza vaccine, agreed to sell up to 3 million doses to public health officials at less than half the $46 wholesale price amid a shortage of flu vaccine, the federal government said yesterday, which may ultimately boost faltering sales of the drug."Comment: Agreed to sell at less than half price a drug that wasn't selling??? Every where you turn the vaccine manufacturers get breaks no other company gets. And they will continue to get them as long as the public is hysterical about disease. For more on the cozy deal the vaccine manufacturers have, the dream business plan at the public's expense, click here.
►December12, 2003 - Doctors say flu outbreak not a cause for panic - The News-Times - "In the past, parents didn’t worry about their kids getting the flu. This year, for a variety of reasons — the deaths of 23 children nationwide, a shortage of vaccine, saturation coverage of the flu outbreak on cable news shows — they are...Dr. Jack Fong, chairman of pediatrics at Danbury Hospital, is trying to make sure unease about the disease doesn’t balloon into any real panic...Fong added that because of the communication revolution — cable TV, the Internet, all-news stations — people hear about any unusual illness much sooner than in the past."
Comment: First, there is only a shortage because of increased demand due to the creation of a panic atmosphere. And if there is, in fact, no need for panic, the following question should be asked: Is there anyone who serves to gain from a panic and increased demand for flu vaccine?
►December10, 2003 - Nasal Spray Vaccine - A Better Flu Vaccine? New Data Suggest Nasal Spray Vaccine May Give More Protection Against "Drifted' Strains. Such Strains Are Now Circulating, Says Saint Louis University Doctor Who Helped Develop the Vaccine - www.healthnewsdigest.com
►December16, 2003 - Toddler Dies Of Flu Complications - www.whiotv.com "Doctors said Trevor Hamilton's missing pituitary gland and cleft pallet had an impact on his immune system. That put him at high risk for the flu."
►December11, 2003 - Aetna to Cover Flumist® During the 2003-2004 Flu Season - Actions Enable Healthy Individuals to be Vaccinated, While Allowing Health Workers to Redirect Limited Supplies of Injectable Influenza Vaccine to High-Risk Individuals - www.aetna.com
►December15, 2003 - FluMist to the Rescue - Washington Post via www.immunizationinfo.org
►December11, 2003 - Flu Spreading in U.S. But Not Scary Yet -Officials - Reuters via Yahoo! - "The flu is spreading across the United States and the government is concerned enough to buy up 250,000 available doses of vaccine to make sure it goes to those who need it most, officials said on Thursday...But the influenza season is not especially serious yet and has not reached the level of an epidemic, said Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites)...Nonetheless, Gerberding and Health and Human Services (news - web sites) Secretary Tommy Thompson said they were happy with the media attention being given to the flu...'There has been a greatly increased interest in the flu this year. We hope that translates into more people, especially those at high risk, getting their flu shots early in future years,' Thompson told a news conference."
Comment: How is it that a "not especially serious (flu season) yet" got so hyped up that what resulted was a frenzied demand for flu vaccine?
►December14, 2003 - Flu vaccine injects a dose of confusion - Questions are raised over its usefulness against the virus. - The Sacramento Bee - "American consumers are hearing what sound like contradictory messages this flu season. On the one hand, they are being told to get vaccinated against the disease. On the other, they are hearing the vaccine may not protect them from this year's flu...The confusion has left many scrambling to find someone to give them the vaccine, and others wondering whether it's worth all the trouble."
►December15, 2003 - Panel reluctantly backed flu vaccine to FDA - Members of an advisory panel that backed this year's flu vaccine expressed doubts about its potential effectiveness before recommending it for the Food and Drug Administration's approval. - CNN
►December11, 2003 - U.S. Buys More Flu Vaccine as Outbreak Widens - The modest increase of 250,000 doses won't make a dent in demand, since the virus has hit all states and is "widespread" in 24. - HealthDay via www.healthcentral.com
►December11, 2003 - Experts Say Flu Vaccine Shortage Just Part of Ailing System in U.S. - Knight Ridder via www.wtev.com - The U.S. flu vaccine shortage -- one of seven vaccine shortages in the past two years -- is just the latest symptom of an ailing national vaccination strategy, public health experts and two federal reports say...'Our vaccine system is broke in that we're having these shortages,' Frank Sloan, a Duke University health economics professor, said Wednesday as federal officials scrounged for more flu vaccine overseas in the midst of a serious influenza outbreak."
►December11, 2003 - Senator wants more done about flu - South Dakota's Johnson: Response plan needed for nation - American News via Sun Herald - "Many states, including South Dakota, have influenza plans. Now, the nation needs such a blueprint."
►December12, 2003 - More accurate, speedy flu vaccine years from distribution - Denver Post via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - "Top influenza researchers have developed a vaccine that they say can more accurately target any flu strain, even mutants like the Fujian bug that is sweeping mercilessly across the country...And scientists say drug companies could develop the vaccine much faster than the current flu shot by growing it in animal cells instead of eggs, where today's vaccine is born."
Comment: Given what we are learning about cross-species transfer of diseases and the difficulty in identifying and removing pathogens, is this really such a good idea?
►December12, 2003 - Doctors say flu outbreak not a cause for panic - The News-Times - "In the past, parents didn’t worry about their kids getting the flu. This year, for a variety of reasons — the deaths of 23 children nationwide, a shortage of vaccine, saturation coverage of the flu outbreak on cable news shows — they are...Dr. Jack Fong, chairman of pediatrics at Danbury Hospital, is trying to make sure unease about the disease doesn’t balloon into any real panic...Fong added that because of the communication revolution — cable TV, the Internet, all-news stations — people hear about any unusual illness much sooner than in the past."
Comment: First, there is only a shortage because of increased demand due to the creation of a panic atmosphere. And if there is, in fact, no need for panic, the following question should be asked: Is there anyone who serves to gain from a panic and increased demand for flu vaccine?
►December14, 2003 - Many People Resist Flu Shots - Miami Herald via www.immunizationinfo.org - "The CDC is concerned about the lack of interest in a flu vaccine and is looking for ways to understand patient apathy so that it might change the attitude in the future. Doctors note that many patients believe that the flu shot can make them ill, though the injected vaccine is not made with live virus and presents no risk of causing sickness. Other reasons cited for avoiding the flu vaccine include having gotten the shot in the past and feeling sick afterwards, general distrust of vaccines in general, and being healthy."
►December9, 2003 - Drug-Resistant Bug Complicates Flu - Bad Staph, Vaccine Shortage Add to Flu Worries - WebMD with AOL Health
►December14, 2003 - Scientists predicting worldwide flu plague - It's certain to come, and to be a deadly, drawn-out disaster - AP and files from Staff Reporter Charlie Anderson - "Think the flu warnings are gloomy now? You haven't heard anything yet...Consider this instead. It's only a matter of time until there's a worldwide outbreak of a strain so severe that in the industrialized nations alone, it will kill a half-million people, flood more than two million hospital beds -- and all in a sudden, unexpected crisis that no flu shot will prevent."
►December15, 2003 - Scientists agonized over less-than-ideal flu vaccine - AP via The Wichita Eagle - "Late last winter, a committee of vaccine experts designing this season's flu shot considered their choices. They had two, and both seemed bad...Should they stick with last year's formula, even though a new strain of the bug was ominously building strength? Or should they try to make a new vaccine and risk complications or delays that could result in a shortage or maybe even no vaccine at all?..In the end, the committee voted 17-1 to bring back last year's version, even though they feared they were telling millions of Americans to roll up their sleeves for shots that might not work very well."
►December13, 2003 - US 'wants British flu vaccine' - US health officials are considering buying thousands of doses of flu vaccine from Britain because it is running short of supplies. - BBC
►December12, 2003 - Flu Outbreak Spreads to All 50 States - http://apnews.myway.com
►December14, 2003 - Flu Virus From Bird Infects Boy in Asia - Experts Worried About Global Pandemic - Washington Post - "While the start of this year's flu season has been especially wretched, flu experts say it is not the killer pandemic they have been worrying about for years. They are more anxious about a little-noticed case that emerged last week in Hong Kong, where a 5-year-old boy was infected with a bird flu virus, because that is the sort of event that could spark a long-feared global health emergency."
December 8-14, 2003
►December13, 2003 - Panel reluctantly backed flu vaccine to FDA - Members of an advisory panel that backed this year's flu vaccine expressed doubts about its potential effectiveness before recommending it for the Food and Drug Administration's approval. - CNN
►December13, 2003 - Why flu kills healthy kids a medical mystery - The Denver Post - "The exact cause of death of 14-month-old Jeremy Beaumont and of Joseph Williams, the 8- year-old from Wellington, and of the other Colorado flu victims hasn't been determined. Most of those who died in Colorado were sick before the flu struck, with compromised immune systems, or, in at least one case, heart problems. But some were healthy - normal, exuberant children whose deaths no doubt send shivers down the spine of every parent in the state."
►December12, 2003 - No end in sight - The News-Record - "The influenza A virus continues to take its toll on Campbell County and health officials aren't expecting it to get much better...Pediatrician Linda Ammari will see 45 kids today related to viral illnesses, which she says hasn't slowed in the last two weeks."
►December13, 2003 - Scientist warn of flu pandemic - As bad as this year's flu season is, it hasn't brought the worldwide outbreak known as a pandemic. But experts warn that a pandemic is coming, it's just a question of when. - AP via CNN
►December13, 2003 - Stronger vaccine was nixed - March decision by FDA is examined in light of deadly flu season - The Denver Post - "Federal regulators could have approved a flu vaccine that protected the public against the deadly strain sweeping through Colorado and across the country, but would have had to use a controversial and risky method to do it."
►December14, 2003 - The Big Bad Flu, or Just the Usual? (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "For all the public concern over the rapid spread of the new Fujian strain of influenza, health officials and doctors say there is still no way to know whether this year's flu season is particularly severe or just off to an early start. And for all the clamor for dwindling supplies of vaccine, no one knows how effective the current vaccine will be against the Fujian strain...But the flu season has already thrown some realities about the public health system into sharp relief, these experts say. It suggests that the country needs to be far better prepared to deal with influenza — either the conventional strains that cause serious illness each year, or a horrendous strain like the one that caused the 1918-19 pandemic, which killed at least 30 million people worldwide."
Influenza: The Disease &
The Vaccine
►December12, 2003 - Read This Before You Get A Flu Shot Or Take Another Pill: By Mary Starrett - www.newswithviews.com - "A senior executive with pharma-giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in the U.K. said that fewer than half the patients prescribed some of the most expensive drugs actually got any benefit from them...Whoa."
Comment: Note the stark contrast between alternative and mainstream press news.
►December13, 2003 - With Flu Shots Dwindling, Nasal Spray Vaccine Surges (requires subscription or registration) - The New York Times - "So Mr. Feinberg, a 49-year-old lawyer, dropped into a pharmacy here, sat in a chair and tilted his head back as a pharmacist squirted a liquid vaccine called FluMist into each of his nostrils. He paid $70, before a $25 rebate, several times what he would have paid for a flu shot. But he said it was worth it... 'The time I would have lost from work," he said, "I didn't mind paying at all.'"
►December13, 2003 - Noting High-Risk Flu Groups and a Few Tips on Coping (requires subscription or registration) - The New York Times - "Because it is impossible to predict which strain of influenza will strike in any given season, this year's vaccine was designed for strains other than Fujian A, the dominant strain this year. But health officials say it appears to be close enough to provide some protection. The vaccine takes two weeks to become effective."
►December10, 2003 - Health departments set priorities for flu shots - The Seattle Times - "State and King County health officials are recommending that physicians give top priority for the increasingly scarce flu vaccine to children and adults at high risk for complications..."It seems prudent to prioritize the doses we do have. ... It appears our supplies are dwindling," state Health Officer Maxine Hayes said yesterday."
►December10, 2003 - Listen, all you germ factories: Sneeze politely - Portland Press Herald - "It's been a long time since information this useful came out of Maine's state government. This morning's news report, therefore, would not be complete without attributing these two simple pieces of advice to no one less than Gov. John Baldacci."
►December9, 2003 - Flu Shot Shortage Could Help FluMist - AP via Yahoo! - "Shortages of flu shots could boost disappointing sales of the needle-free vaccine FluMist this winter, but analysts say the drug's long term outlook is dogged by a high price and limits on who can use it."
►December9, 2003 -
Flu Shot Shortage Could Help FluMist
-
AP via Yahoo! - "Shortages
of flu shots could boost disappointing sales of the needle-free vaccine FluMist
this winter, but analysts say the drug's long term outlook is dogged by a high
price and limits on who can use it."
►December8, 2003 -
CDC to Monitor Kids Flu Complications
-
AP via Yahoo! - "The
nation's health agency plans to closely watch flu complications among children,
who have swamped hospitals in some states and surprised doctors with the
severity of their illnesses...A new concern is the rise of a common
drug-resistant staph infection that is complicating efforts to treat children
with the flu, an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news
-
web sites) said Monday."
►December12, 2003 - Children Hit Hard By Flu - CBS/AP via CBS News - "Fueling all the concern is the sobering fact that at least 23 children have died so far this flu season..Some of the people who track infectious diseases call the number alarming, but to date there has been little information available about the deaths that would either allay or confirm fears...But CBS News Correspondent Elizabeth Kaledin reports that more than half of the children who died had an underlying illness such as asthma, heart disease or diabetes, but no information is being made public about whether or not the children were vaccinated."
Comment: Children with diseases like asthma and diabetes are more vulnerable to the potential ravages of the flu. Chronic disease among children is significantly on the rise, which means more and more children are potentially at serious risk from the flu. Why are more and more children suffering from chronic disease? For more on this, go to Scandals: Prescription For Disaster - Is Vaccine Policy A "House of Cards"? and Scandals: Look Who's Paying.
►December12, 2003 - Frist Says Flu Vaccine Shortage Points Up Need To Improve Supply - www.chattanoogan.com - "'There are a number of varying factors related to the shortage – too few vaccine manufacturers in large part due to costly and unnecessary lawsuits coupled with uncertain market conditions; lack of a coordinated strategy to safeguard against a flu pandemic; reliance on older technologies that slow vaccine production; public complacency about the importance of immunizations; and the caginess of the flu virus itself.'"
►Bush blamed for flu vaccine shortage - The Washington Times - "'It's frustrating to hear a Bush health adviser make excuses for drug companies by giving inflated numbers on how much stockholders might lose on vaccine production,' Mr. Edwards said. I wish we could think more about solutions and worry less about profits.'... One Republican source said it was 'incredibly ironic' that Mr. Edwards would complain about vaccine manufacturers....'There would be more companies available to manufacture vaccines if people like John Edwards and his trial lawyer friends weren't putting them out of business with frivolous lawsuits,' the source said."
►December11, 2003 - Hospital sees flu surge in pregnant women - Flu cases among young pregnant women surged at a large public hospital, calling attention to yet another group at serious risk of the flu. - AP via CNN
►December11, 2003 - Advocate Says Government Should Release Flu Shot Data - www.newsmax.com - "A leading vaccine safety and informed consent advocate is calling on federal health officials and flu vaccine makers to be honest with the American people about the effectiveness of this year's flu vaccine...Transcripts from the February 20 and March 18, 2003 meetings of the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) reveal that health officials around the world knew the genetically mutated Fujian strain was associated with significant morbidity and mortality and that last year's vaccine showed little protection against it.
►December12, 2003 - Miscalculations Lead to Flu Vaccine Shortage - Fox News - "Last year, three manufacturers made 95 million doses of the flu vaccine. Eighty million doses were used, and companies were forced to eat the cost of the unused portions. The outcome was costly — with pharmaceutical giant Wyeth (search) dropping out of producing vaccines this year, and the remaining two companies — Aventis Pasteur (search) and Chiron Corp. (search) — hoping not to make the same mistake...The government does not pay for the extra doses of flu vaccine. It works with drug companies to guess yearly demand based on the previous year's use."
►December12, 2003 - Notice to Readers: Request for Information About Acute Encephalopathy Associated with Influenza Virus Infection in U.S. Children - CDC via MMWR - "Reports of influenza-associated encephalopathy have been uncommon in the United States (3,4). To determine if a similar pattern is occurring in the United States, CDC is requesting information on any case meeting certain criteria. The criteria include a person aged <18 years with altered mental status or personality change lasting >24 hours and occurring within 5 days of onset of an acute febrile respiratory illness, laboratory or rapid diagnostic test evidence of acute influenza virus infection associated with the respiratory illness, and diagnosis of the condition in the United States."
Comment: Might at least some of this be Reye's syndrome, which can be confused with encephalitis? If so, and in those cases, might the "influenza-associated encephalopathy" be treatment related, i.e., caused by treating the flu with aspirin, rather than a direct consequence of the flu?
►December5, 2003 - New Data Suggest That A Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine May Induce Immunity Against Currently Circulating Drifted A/Fujian-Like Influenza Strain - MedImmune, Inc. via PRNewswire
Comment: It would appear that the study was paid for by MedImmune, the maker of the vaccine.
►December9, 2003 - CDC to monitor children's flu complications - AP via CNN - "A new concern is the rise of a common drug-resistant staph infection that is complicating efforts to treat children with the flu, an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday...Dr. Tim Uyeki, epidemiologist with the influenza branch of CDC, said that some children have died from the staph infections -- a phenomenon the CDC has not seen before."
Comment: Why would children with flu suddenly be dying from staph infections? Has something happened to impair their immune systems and make them more vulnerable to these infections than normally would occur when they have the flu? Or is there something about this particular flu that makes them weaker in a way that, for the first time, makes them extremely vulnerable to staph?
►December8, 2003 - An Aetna InteliHealth/Harvard Medical School Look At The News -- Flu Crisis On The Horizon? - With the nation's supply of flu shots dropping rapidly and at least 13 states facing unusually severe flu outbreak, doctors are urging healthy people to opt for a nasal-spray version of the vaccine and save the traditional one for children and elderly. - AP via www.intelihealth.com
►December11, 2003 - ID Biomedical Reports Positive Preclinical Data Against Variant Influenza Strains - Life Science News - "Results from pre-clinical experiments performed by ID Biomedical scientists and recently published in the September 2003 issue of the peer reviewed journal, Vaccine, provides evidence that nasal Proteosome(TM)- influenza subunit vaccines can protect against infection by variant strains of influenza virus that have 'drifted' from the strain present in the vaccine...ID Biomedical is a biotechnology company focused on the development of proprietary subunit vaccine products, including those based on its Proteosome(TM) platform intranasal adjuvant/delivery technology."
►December11, 2003 - Flu Mist anyone? - Does This Smell Bad? from the Health Sciences Institute newsletter via www.newmediaexplorer.org
►December8, 2003 - FluMist Booms on Backing from Centers for Disease Control - The Washington Times
►December9, 2003 - A Better FLU Vaccine? Nasal Spray Vaccine May Give More Protection Against 'Drifted' Strains - www.slu.edu via Science Daily - "The maker of the vaccine, MedImmune Inc., is currently conducting additional studies with FluMist to confirm these findings."
Comment: Any chance someone without a stake in the results will be doing any research on this?
►December11, 2003 - Flood of flu cases using up vaccine - The Navajo Times - "Across the United States, health officials have said this year could be the worst influenza season seen in decades...Michael Murphy, spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Health Services, said that so far two adults and one child have died of influenza related sickness. Murphy said Arizona typically has 20 children deaths a year caused by influenza."
Comment: Okay, so let me see if I've got this straight. Normally 20 children die in Arizona, and so far one has died. And yet there is near hysteria over this flu and access to flu vaccine. Perhaps I am missing something, but is this flu season being hyped up for some reason? If so, what could that reason be? And lest we forget, there have been almost 18,000 flu-vaccine associated adverse reactions reported to VAERS since reporting began, including 317 deaths. (Note that estimates of under-reporting range from 90-99%, e.g., click here.)
►December11, 2003 - Cases of flu cut in half - The worst of worst Colorado season in years is over, officials say - Rocky Mountain News - "During a typical year, no more than two children and a total of 750 to 800 Coloradans die of complications of the flu or pneumonia."
Comment: What makes this year the "worst of the worst"? How many Coloradans died last year? How many have died so far this year? How many of the allegedly flu-related deaths reported by the media have been confirmed to be flu-related? How many of the allegedly flu-related deaths reported by the media are actually treatment related? How many of the allegedly flu-related deaths reported by the media are actually non-flu-related, e.g., the result of asthma and other chronic conditions? How many of the allegedly flu-related deaths reported by the media are actually vaccine-related deaths? Will there be a genuine effort to answer these and other relevant questions?
►December11, 2003 - NAA Action Alert: "On ►December9, 2003, an editorial was published in the Wall Street Journal entitled, "Where's my flu shot?" The writer goes beyond merely stating an opinion when the information he/she presents is made to seem factual, but really isn't. In fact, the writer uses erroneous information to take direct aim at government officials who have very much helped the autism community in the past. He/she also depicts Senator Bill Frist as the hero while blaming our repeal of the Homeland Security rider for the current flu vaccine shortage...Please write to the Wall Street Journal ASAP and let them know that they irresponsibly printed a very misleading editorial without checking the facts first." - to learn more, go to the National Autism Association's Grassroots Center
►December11, 2003 - Doubling of flu deaths feared - The Denver Post - "The FDA and CDC should have warned the public that the vaccine might not be effective against the Fujian strain, said Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center in Vienna, Va., and a member of the FDA committee..."Be honest with the people; tell them they couldn't produce the Fujian strain this year," she said, noting that citizens often incorrectly look at the flu vaccine as a panacea...Worse, Fisher said, is that health officials knew the the vaccine was only marginally effective against Fujian."
►December10, 2003 - Experts Question Potency of Flu Vaccine - AP via Yahoo! - "Even as federal officials try to round up extra doses of the flu vaccine, many experts are wondering just how much protection the shots will give the millions who have taken them...Vaccine makers produced 83 million doses this year, but the early and intense outbreak in some Western states has dried up supplies in many places...Even though one of the three is a close cousin of this season's bug, whether that will be enough to help people ward off the flu is unknown. Some experts expect the level of protection to be less than 50 percent...Most agree the vaccine will do at least some good. But the word "some" is about specific as CDC scientists are willing to get."
Comment: How lovely for the vaccine manufacturers, to be able to produce 83 million doses of something that may well not work and enlist the government and medical community in their efforts to sell it.
►December11, 2003 - Effectiveness of shots isn't clear-cut - Expert says mismatch may protect half of recipients but adds, 'Biology is messy' - Rocky Mountain News
►December10, 2003 - Flu campaign emphasizes etiquette - www.ourmaine.com - "Governor John E. Baldacci, joined by public health officials from the Department of Human Services, Tuesday announced a 'Cover Your Cough and Wash Your Hands' campaign to involve all Maine people in the effort to improve their health during the flu season."
►December10, 2003 - Fujian flu vaccine ready by next year - The Star
►December9, 2003 - Even doctors seek guidance on flu vaccine - Shortage creates questions about who should be given shots - Akron Beacon Journal - "An earlier-than-usual flu season. News of influenza-related childhood deaths in Western states. A dwindling vaccine supply. It's a set of circumstances that's creating fear among parents and concern among doctors."
►November 28, 2003 - A shot for the flu, with mercury too - Canadians are getting a dose of something unexpected with their flu shots this season: mercury. - Capital News Online - "Provincial and territorial governments use an influenza vaccine that contains the mercury compound thimerosal as a preservative. They buy it because it's less expensive than vaccines without mercury."
►December10, 2003 - Nasal Spray Flu Vaccine Could Take Off, Boosting Maker - USA Today via www.immunizationinfo.org - "The demand for influenza vaccine has increased due to an outbreak of a strong strain of flu, and Aventis and Chiron have shipped all their inventory of flu shots. This could turn into opportunity for MedImmune, which manufactures the FluMist nasal spray vaccine and whose sales so far have been slow. FluMist's launch was hindered by a number of factors, including its higher price, its limited approval for patients, and the fact that it must be kept frozen. However, MedImmune's marketing partner, Wyeth, has started a freezer distribution program, and higher demand could push sales."
Comment: Is all this a coincidence? For more on this, go to New Campaign To Market Tough-Sell FluMist® - by Sherri Tenpenny, DO - Online Vaccines Conference @ www.redflagsdaily.com
►December6, 2003 - 700 senior citizens in Singapore get enhanced flu jabs to combat new flu virus strain - Channel News Asia - "Managing Director of Pacific Biosciences, Lloyd Soong, said: 'The elderly are a little different from us healthy adults, so their immunity system is a little different. So if you give the normal flu vaccines then maybe you're protected about 90 percent for healthy adults like us, but for the elderly if you use the so-called normal flu vaccines probably about 30 to 40 percent of the elderly are protected only.'...But while Fluad is also suitable for adults, it is not recommended for young children. They're better off with an ordinary flu vaccine."
Comment: What's the story on this so-called enhanced flu vaccine? And how many of the elderly are aware that "normal flu vaccines" probably only protect 30-40 percent of them?
►December2003 - Flu vaccination could mean extra doctor trips - Study reports a high rate of healthy infants who would require and additional visit to receive influenza vaccine. (requires registration) - journal article (Infectious Diseases In Children) - "An important drawback of the recent decision by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to move to a full universal influenza recommendation for healthy young infants in the fall of 2004 is the possibility that the requirement will prompt the need for additional medical visits."
►December7, 2003 - Children refused killer flu jabs - The Sunday Mercury - "More children could die of Fujian flu as doctors have been BANNED from giving them vaccinations because of jab shortages...A Sunday Mercury investigation has discovered Midland clinics have been told not to immunise healthy kids from the killer virus - as the government have not provided enough supplies."
Comment: Given that we don't actually know how many of the children who died from the flu had been given the flu vaccine, perhaps it is a bit premature to draw the conclusion that more children could die unless they get it.
►December7, 2003 - Experts fear mutant flu strain will be deadly - Several children have already died, vaccines are in short supply, hospitals filling up - AP via www.thestate.com - "The last time there was a flu strain mutation similar to the one sickening thousands of Americans this year, nearly 65,000 died...And that was only five years ago...Flu experts say it’s clear this flu season will be much worse than in the past few years, but they are not ready to predict it will be one of the deadliest in modern times."
►December8, 2003 -
Health Officials Say Flu Shots Should Go to Most Vulnerable -
Wall Street Journal via
www.immunizationinfo.org - "They
do not face an easy decision, however; pediatricians, for example, are unsure
whether to give the vaccine to first-time recipients, who then need a booster
shot after 30 days, or to vaccinate children who have already received a flu
vaccine in the past and therefore only require one shot. Meanwhile, the CDC is
trying to figure out how much vaccine is really left, with estimates as low as a
two-week supply and 200,000 doses left out of 83 million distributed
nationwide."
►December8, 2003 -
The Lack of Vaccines Goes Beyond Flu Inoculations -
Wall Street Journal via
www.immunizationinfo.org - "On
Friday, the two suppliers of influenza vaccine to the United States reported
that because of the unusual early and severe flu season, they are running low of
vaccine doses, in the eighth major shortage of vaccines for preventable diseases
since 2000. Flu vaccines have been in short supply for three years out of the
past four..."
Comment: Wasn't last year a mild year for the flu and one of the years with a severe flu vaccine shortage? Is this merely a coincidence, or might the shortage of flu vaccine have been at least partly responsible for the mild season?
►December8, 2003 - CDC to Monitor Children's Flu Complications - Drug-Resistant Staph a New Wrinkle - AP via ABC News
►December9, 2003 - Nevada congressman loses hearing in ear due to virus, aide says - AP via Las Vegas Sun - "Brooke van Soest, Proter's deputy chief of staff, said Porter was being treated for an unspecified virus in his right ear that could have been contracted on a hunting trip or that might have been a side effect of a flu shot."
►December5, 2003 - MedImmune Flu Vaccines Show Response Against Current Strain - Dow Jones Newswire via www.immunizationinfo.org - "A new report from MedImmune indicates that its live, attenuated flu vaccine, FluMist, is 86 percent effective against the A/H3N2 flu strain, which circulated during the 1997-1998 season. MedImmune, which collected data from studies on children and ferrets, noted that the currently spreading strain is a drifted A/Fujian/411/2002 (H3N2)-like strain. "These new data demonstrate that live, attenuated, influenza vaccines may have a greater potential to produce a broad immunity to influenza, including drifted strains, than the inactivated strains," said Dr. Robert B. Belshe, a professor at St. Louis University and the lead investigator for the FluMist pediatric trial."
►December8, 2003 - Is It Possible That FluMist®, The Nasal Spray Flu Vaccine, May Be Causing The Flu? - by Sherri Tenpenny, DO - Online Vaccines Conference at Redflagsdaily.com
Atishoo! Atishoo! We All Fall Down? - Is the flu such a dreaded disease? - www.whatareweswallowing.com - "There have been many instances over recent years that show how governments and media oulets are adept at creating unnecessary mass anxiety over disease. With the news that UK supermarket Asda (Walmart subsidiary) is now offering the flu jab on-site to its customers (at the bargain price of £11.97 as opposed to the normal £20.00), readers are strongly encouraged to acquaint themselves with the tawdry, unethical nature of today’s so-called ‘flu protection’ programmes, before rolling up their sleeves."
►December5, 2003 - Smart money is on flu shots - The Telegraph, UK
December 1-7, 2003
►December5, 2003 - As the Flu Spreads Early and Quickly, Colorado Expands Its Vaccination Campaign - The New York Times (registration and/or subscription required)
►December6, 2003 - With Flu Cases Spreading, Demand for Vaccine Grows - The New York Times (registration and/or subscription required) - "With influenza cases surging in at least 10 states, vaccine makers said yesterday that they had shipped out their entire supplies, and health officials said they were trying to determine whether there was enough vaccine left to immunize people who still want flu shots. More vaccine cannot be made in time for this year's flu season."
►December7, 2003 - Experts Not Ready to Predict Flu Severity - AP via ABC News
►December6, 2003 - Speakout: Flu epidemic exposes gaps, weaknesses in Colorado's health-care system for kids - Rocky Mountain News
►December6, 2003 - Flu virus attacks child despite vaccination - Health of twins declined rapidly after weekly - Rocky Mountain News - "On Monday, Dezmond got sick. Diego followed the next day...But the parents weren't worried - both boys had had their flu shots, and a doctor's visit ended with a prescription."
Comment: Regardless the cause, this is a terrible tragedy. But did this child die in spite of having been vaccinated or because of it? While it sometimes is impossible to determine what happened in a particular child's case, only by doing population studies, comparing vaccinated to never vaccinated, can an understanding of the overall effects of vaccination be ascertained.
►December6, 2003 - An about-face on flu shots - Because of shortages, healthy people asked to forgo getting them - Rocky Mountain News
Comment: Might there also be a connection between this "about-face" and the death of a flu vaccinated child?
►December2, 2003 - Graedons: Don't become a statistic this flu season - The Herald Sun - "Public-health experts hope that the vaccine will provide some benefit, but it is hard to predict how many people will come down with this bug despite a shot...In an average year, more than 100,000 people are hospitalized and 36,000 or so die from flu and its complications. In a year like this, when flu begins early with a mutated virus, the toll could be higher."
Comment: Obviously nowhere nearly 36,000 deaths have occurred thus far, and a relatively small number have been reported. Yet reporting on this year's flu has made it seem as if this year the flu is extraordinarily deadly. But is that actually the case?
Comment: Reporting has also made it seem that children are being hit harder than usual. But is it even true?
►December1, 2003 - U.K.: Spate of Child Flu Deaths Sparks Alarm - All children may be offered vaccine next year - Guardian, Unlimited, UK
►November 30, 2003 - Next flu pandemic could wreak global havoc, scientists warn - USA Today
►December3, 2003 - Will This Year's Flu Shot Work? - Vaccinated People Who Do Get Flu Likely Won't Be as Sick - WebMD
►December2, 2003 - Young Children Are Main Victims in UK Flu Outbreak - Reuters, UK - "Britain's Chief Medical Officer has urged increased flu vaccination of high-risk children as figures show that this year's outbreak is hitting infants hardest...At least two children under four years old have died of suspected Fujian flu so far this year and the figures also show that the rate of illness in this age group is three times higher than among middle-aged and elderly people."
►December2, 2003 - Six children die in Fujian flu outbreak - No plan to immunise 15 million children against 'unexpected' strain of influenza virus, say health chiefs - The Guardian, UK
►December3, 2003 - Two Million Flu Cases Expected in France as Epidemic Hits Europe - Agence France Presse via www.immunizationinfo.org
►December2, 2003 - At-risk children 'need flu jabs' - Up to a million children at risk from serious illnesses are being urged to have a flu jab. - BBC - "But they say there is no need for a mass vaccination of children...Around half a dozen children aged between 18 months and 16 are thought to have died from the Fujian strain of influenza this winter...But an inquest has revealed that 12-year-old girl Fern Summers from West Newton in Norfolk, who it was feared had died after contracting the flu strain, actually died after an asthma attack."
Comment: It's encouraging to see such restraint on the part of public health authorities.
►December1, 2003 - Big Shot - Why you should get your flu vaccination. - MSN - "Have you gotten your flu shot this year? If you haven't, your excuse is most likely feeble."
►December2, 2003 - Flu cases ease, but experts cautious - State awaits update tally on Wednesday - Denver Post
►December2, 2003 - Flu claims seven in Britain, but too few cases to declare an epidemic - AFP via Yahoo! - "An outbreak is not considered to be an epidemic until there are 400 cases per 100,000 people."
►November 29, 2003 - Experts cast bet on flu vaccine - Imperfect shield beat delivery delay - http://newsobserver.com - "Despite evidence that a flu bug had mutated and was defying the current vaccine, health officials around the world took a calculated risk not to change the formula for this year's flu shots...Part of the reason was that the new strain was difficult to grow in the lab. That could have delayed the vaccine's development and, thus, its availability. Given two options -- a late but better vaccine or a timely but flawed shot -- health officials chose the latter."
►November 29, 2003 - Experts
urge vigilance, not alarm, about flu - The Buffalo News
►November 29, 2003 - Officials:
Late flu shot better than none - Federal, local government brace for
worse-than-usual sickness season - Ventura County Star
►November 30, 2003 - Flu shots for kids a judgment call - New strain hits children hard. Little ones tend to be heartier than adults but there are many reasons to immunize - CP via www.canada.com
►November 30, 2003 - Health Department Pushes Vaccinations As Flu Cases Rise - www.ny1.com
Comment: I wonder if the Health Department is disclosing that the current flu vaccine is not the same strain as the current flu, and that it is only speculated that it will work. For more on this, see CDC News Conference Transcript.
►December1, 2003 - Country not Prepared for the Flu - Ivanhoe - "Researchers from the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital say two different outbreaks of bird flu were transmitted to humans this year and caused fatal infections. They say these bird-to-human transmissions may suggest certain flu viruses are evolving quickly enough to pose a serious threat the humans. These types of virus transmissions were unheard of before 1997...Although researchers have recently developed new, quicker ways to make vaccines, they say the time it takes to test and approve the new vaccines would still take a good amount of time."
November 24-30, 2003
►Workshop on Development of Clinical Trial Plan for Pandemic Inluenza Vaccines - CBER/FDA
►November 30, 2003 - New Campaign To Market Tough-Sell FluMist - by Sherri Tenpenny, DO - Online Vaccines Conference @ www.redflagsdaily.com
►November 28, 2003 - Scientists warn of coming flu pandemic - Experts recommend world health authorities stockpile vaccine to be ready for new strains of influenza - Knight-Ridder via The Wichita Eagle
►November 28, 2003 - Child , 2 seniors, die as flu bug spreads - The Globe and Mail - "Children are particularly vulnerable because flu was mild for several years, not allowing them to build immunity, and because one of the strains is new and particularly virulent...The notion of a universal flu vaccination is recent and immunizing children has not been routine."
►November 28, 2003 -
Flu threat puts parents on alert - One child dies in Peterborough from bug - The Globe and Mail - "Despite experts' dire warnings that the world is overdue for a pandemic that will kill millions of people, that is unlikely to occur this year. A pandemic occurs when a strain jumps from animals to humans...'A/Fujian will not cause a pandemic, but that doesn't mean it's benign,' said Robert Webster, a virologist at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn...the child who died 'did have some underlying medical problems...'►November 17, 2003 - CDC News Conference Transcript - Update on Current Influenza Season - CDC - "The strain that we're most concerned about, that is a drift version of H3N2 is called the Fujian strain. It's very similar, it's just drifted a little bit from the Panama strain, and our animal studies suggest that the vaccine will provide cross-protection against this strain. In the past this has happened. It's a very common thing."
►November 28, 2003 - Longtime dream spurs fight against paralysis - Washington County sheriff in 2nd term - www.ajc.com - "Smith was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare but rapid onset of weakness or paralysis in which the body's immune system typically attacks the body itself...The syndrome can be triggered by vaccinations and it has no known cause or cure. In Smith's case, a flu shot sparked the disease."
►November 26, 2003 - Alta. unveils plan for next influenza pandemic - www.ctv.ca - "The Alberta government has issued a dire health warning about the flu. They say when the next pandemic hits, it will make last spring's SARS outbreak look like 'the sniffles.'"
►November 27, 2003 - Few willing to pay through the nose for FluMist - Akron Beacon Journal
►November 27, 2003 - Officials reject flu risk claims - Claims that the UK may be unprepared if this year's flu season turns into "the big one" have been dismissed by the Department of Health. - BBC
►November 27, 2003 - Thousands sickened in early, severe flu season - Especially virulent strain of virus is cropping up - CNN - "'One of the reported deaths from flu this year was of a child with symptoms that were not consistent with the flu,' said Dr. Ned Calonge, Colorado's chief medical officer...'The loss of this child is tragic, but parents need to know this is a very unusual case, and that there have not been any similar cases in Colorado or Texas, where flu activity has been the worst to date in the United States this year," he said in a statement on the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Web site.'"
►Thimerosal-Containing Influenza Vaccine - CDC
►November 26, 2003 - Flu outbreak may be shot in arm for hospital profits - The Tennessean
►November 26, 2003 - Flu loosens grip as cases fall - The Herald, UK
►November 25, 2003 - MedImmune Seeks Help In Relaunching FluMist - New Plan to Be Rolled Out in January - The Washington Post
►November 25, 2003 - Severe strain of flu isn't included in this year's vaccine – AP via Star-Telegram
►November 25, 2003 - Worst Flu Season in 30 Years Predicted - AP via Yahoo!
►November 25, 2003 - Beware the new flu strain - Daily News Transcript - "Even though a different strain of the flu has been detected than what the current vaccine protects against, a state public health official said last week the public will still be protected...'There might be some reduced protection but that doesn't mean there's no protection,' said Dr. Susan Lett, medical director of the Department of Public Health immunization program."
►November 26, 2003 - Four Children in Colorado Die From Flu - AP via Yahoo!
Comment: Is there something about this flu virus that is making it more dangerous or has something happened to make children more vulnerable to the flu?
►November 25, 2003 - Flu bug keeps breaking records - Colo. among states with the most cases - www.rockymountainnews.com
►November 24, 2003 - Should You Get The Flu Shot? - by Sherri Tenpenny, D.O. - Online Vaccines Conference @ www.redflagsdaily.com
November 17-23, 2003
►November 21, 2003 -
Flu vaccine is a good option - The Pilot-Independent - "But before going further, let's dispel a couple of myths...First, the influenza vaccine cannot give someone the flu. It's impossible — the vaccine contains no active RNA and is basically an inactive shell of the influenza virus. However, after receiving the vaccine, some people — primarily those receiving it for the first time — experience a low-grade fever or some minor aches."
Comment: Just out of curiosity, if it contains no active RNA, etc., why is it capable of causing "low-grade fever or some minor aches"?
►Influenza Vaccine - by Kris Gaublomme, MD - VRAN - "The most intriguing deception of the public, however, is the suggestion that the patient who gets an influenza-vaccination will not get the flu."
►November 18, 2003 - Early flu outbreaks have CDC worried - Abilene Reporter News - "But doctors are worried this year’s flu season could be brutal. Not only were the outbreaks early in Texas and Colorado, they involved a strain of influenza not targeted by the vaccine...Gerberding said the vaccine should still protect most people, because the strains are very similar. The changing flu strain is called a 'drift.'...'In the past, this has happened. It’s a very common thing,' she said. 'Whatever the drift is, the vaccine will still provide some cross-protection, so we’re optimistic that will be the case this year, but of course we’ll be watching it very carefully.'"
►November 19, 2003 - MedImmune Says FluMist Sales Are Far Short of Target - Md. Firm Cites High Cost, Safety Concerns - The Washington Post
►November 19, 2003 - Nasal Spray Mishaps - The New York Times - "It sounds like a marketer's dream - a flu vaccine that is given through a spray in the nose rather than an often painful shot in the arm. But attempts to sell such a vaccine this flu season have turned into a nightmare."
►November 19, 2003 - Flu season starts early, but vaccine supplies plentiful - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
►November 20, 2003 - Officials monitor flu outbreaks to study possible genetic shift - Amarillo-Globe News
►November 19, 2003 - Slow FluMist sales give chills to maker - MedImmune reduces outlook for quarter, year - www.sunspot.net
►November 19, 2003 - Flu vaccinations may not protect against new strain - The Michigan Daily
►November 18, 2003 - Flu Vaccine Faces Unexpected Strain - The New York Times - "The influenza vaccine now being given was not developed to protect against a strain of the virus that has surfaced in this country this fall, but the government is optimistic that this year's vaccine will stave off outbreaks, a top federal health official said yesterday."
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DISCLAIMER: All information, data, and material contained, presented, or provided here is for general information purposes only and is not to be construed as reflecting the knowledge or opinions of the publisher, and is not to be construed or intended as providing medical or legal advice. The decision whether or not to vaccinate is an important and complex issue and should be made by you, and you alone, in consultation with your health care provider.
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DISCLAIMER: All information, data, and material contained, presented, or provided here is for general information purposes only and is not to be construed as reflecting the knowledge or opinions of the publisher, and is not to be construed or intended as providing medical or legal advice. The decision whether or not to vaccinate is an important and complex issue and should be made by you, and you alone, in consultation with your health care provider
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* ►March 17, 2010 - The Supreme Court takes on Vaccine Court: Turning the Tables with Bruesewitz v. Wyeth By Kent Heckenlively, Esq. - Age of Autism
* ►March 17, 2010 - FDA Warned Psychiatrist Over Foster Kids In Trials - Pharmalot - "A Florida psychiatrist who treated a 7-year-old foster child before the boy committed suicide last year received an FDA warning letter for failing “to protect the rights, safety and welfare” of children enrolled in clinical trials, The Miami Herald reports. The Feb. 4 letter said Sohail Punjwani overmedicated children who were enrolled in clinical trials for undisclosed drugs."
* ►March 17, 2010 - Michigan Invokes Terrorism To Refuse Swine Flu Costs FOIA Request - The Michigan Messenger via The One Click Group
* ►March 16, 2010 - Obama threatens to veto greater intelligence oversight/ Glenn Greenwald (Salon) - Anthrax Vaccine -- Posts by Meryl Nass, M.D.
* ►March 16, 2010 - House may try to pass Senate health-care bill without voting on it (requires registration) - Washington Post