1 Million More Doses of New Mist Flu Vaccine Being Made Available

[steve2470]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB232PLL0E.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Maryland manufacturer will provide an additional 1 million doses of its FluMist vaccine, making a total of 3 million doses of the nasal spray available, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said Thursday, as officials tried to deal with a shortage of flu shots.

However, FluMist, which contains weakened live virus, cannot be used by those at highest risk for flu complications. It is only approved for healthy people aged 5 to 49.

Thompson encouraged health care workers and people who care for high-risk individuals to use the nasal spray.

"It is safe. It is protective and people should avail themselves of that opportunity," Thompson said.<snip>

[tlcandie]

1. LoL

NOT AGAIN!!! More profitering?!?!?!?! Please read all about this before running out to buy/use it! I remember this time last year there were TONS of informative posts about it!

Buyer beware I guess is the slogan?

[Doug Decker]

2. Contraindicated for the high risks groups...

Thanks Tommy, but this is for HEALTHY people, not the elderly, small children or those with immune system deficiencies.

How worthless is Tommy?

[Spinzonner]

3. As compared to who else in the misadministration

Sadly, not as bad

[soothsayer]

4. I wondered if this "shortage" was concocted to help mediummune peddle

its dangerous virus crap. Last year they got stuck with boatloads of it. Now they're unloading it on us. Nice.

[Kool Kitty]

6. That's exactly what my sister said this weekend.

Instead of dumping our junk medicine on the poor of the world, they're just going to dump it here.

[NaturalHigh]

5. FluMist

From what little I know about how viruses reproduce and mutate, this FluMist stuff sounds really dangerous to me. Influenza viruses are pretty hearty anyway, and introducing them (weakened or not) into humans just doesn't seem like a great idea. I've already heard that anyone with a weakened immune system shouldn't use the FluMist.

[Princess Buttercup]

7. My kids had the Flu Mist vaccine last year

And neither of them got the flu. My son is supposed to get it this year too. My daughter had the shot in September, before word broke about this shortage. But they're in the right age range for it and healthy. I have asthma and I got a flu shot from my primary care doctor. I asked them about the Flu Mist for me, thinking they should use the shot for someone older and more at risk and they told me no way can you get it, especially since I just had bronchitis.

Really I think the main problem with the Flu Mist is that a lot of insurance companies don't cover it like they do the shot so most people aren't aware that it is an option.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

10. FluMist is a LIVE virus.injection is a"killed" virus & safe for elderly

[ElsewheresDaughter]

8. people over age 50 canNOT use nasal FluMist vaccines it is a live virus

not a "killed" injection type...even people who use the FluMist nasal vaccine are then contagious and others can get it form them if i'm not mistaken?
http://consumeraffairs.com/news03/live_flu.html


June 17, 2003
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today
approved FluMist, an influenza vaccine that is the first nasally administered vaccine, and the first live vaccine, to be approved in the United States. It is also the first live virus influenza vaccine approved in the U.S.

The nasal mist was approved only for children and younger adults. However, its use should free up supplies of traditional vaccine for seniors and those with chronic illnesses, officials said.

FluMist is approved to prevent influenza illness due to influenza A and B viruses in healthy children and adolescents, ages 5-17 years, and healthy adults, ages 18-49. Children 5-8 years old need two doses at least 6 weeks apart in their first year of influenza vaccination with FluMist, and individuals 9-49 years old need one dose.

“This new vaccine provides another option for protection against influenza and will potentially increase the availability of the injected killed virus vaccine for those people at highest risk,” said FDA Commissioner Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D. “Having enough supplies of flu vaccine available has sometimes been a challenge because there are few manufacturers, the vaccine needs to be changed every year, and certain strains of the virus grow slowly during the vaccine development process.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), influenza, or “flu,” is responsible for an average of approximately 36,000 deaths per year in the United States. Rates of infection are highest among children ages 5-14 years; however the most severe illnesses and deaths occur among individuals with underlying medical conditions, children less than 2 years of age, and those over 65 years old.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

9. FluMist nasal vaccine kids need 2 doses 6 weeks apart...people over 50

should NOT get the "Live" nasal mist vaccine

[yellowcanine]

11. Ok so those of us in our 50s just have to suck it up. Thanks Bush.

We have only known about this potential flu vaccine shortage for what, 2 years? There were shortages last year. So why were we depending on one company so heavily? I don't but it that Bush is not to blame for this. Tommy Thompson works for him. At the least Tommy Thompson should be looking for another job. Oh, that's right, mistakes get made but no one is responsible. They just happen.