Changes to Next Season’s Flu Vaccine
To keep up with the latest influenza outbreaks caused by strains that are not included in the current vaccine, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee recommended that producers use three new flu strains in next season’s vaccine, replacing all three components of this year’s version.
Of the flu viruses analyzed by the Centers for Disease Control so far this season, 83% have been type A and 16% type B. Type B viruses tend to cause milder illness than type A viruses. Of the type A viruses, 63% have been H3N2 and 37% have been H1N1. H1N1 virus, which in the United States has been well matched by the vaccine was common until early January, but since then the situation has reversed. Seasons in which H3N2 viruses are predominant tend to be more severe than those in which H1N1 strains predominate, experts say.
The three flu virus varieties in the next season’s vaccine include a type A/H1N1, type A/H3N2, and a type B. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended replacing all three strains for next year’s vaccine because the majority of recent H1N1 isolates differ from the H1N1 strain in the vaccine.
The flu vaccine is reformulated each year to try to keep pace with the fast-evolving viruses. The WHO and FDA recommend the strains for the vaccine in February to give manufacturers time to grow the viruses in chicken eggs and process them into vaccine doses. The choice of strains can be tricky since the predominant viruses may differ from those in the vaccine, but most years the vaccine is reasonably on target.
Source: CDC
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Flu Vaccine Initiative 2008 – offers only mercury and excuses
In the interest of marketing the flu vaccine, the CDC provides mortality rates of 36,000 EVERY YEAR. The last two years were mild yet flu = 36,000 deaths. The flu vaccine was in short supply in 2005, yet flu = 36,000 deaths. Since 1995, whether there are many or few vaccine recipients, flu = 36,000 deaths. Why no change?
The deceit is obvious. The Feb 2005, Archives of Internal Medicine flu vaccine study states there is no measurable impact from the flu vaccine each year and “benefits of the flu vaccine are overstated”. Marketing perceived benefits is NOT scientific proof.
The only 100% guarantee with the flu vaccine is mercury exposure for the vast majority of unwitting recipients. As Dr Marie McCormick of the Harvard School of Public Health admits, “laboratory evidence points to the fact that mercury is not good for you..” Of course!
For flu vaccine recipients this year - they got nothing but excuses, mercury and possibly a case of the flu. Next year, they can expect more marketing hype and more mercury along with “36,000 deaths”, regardless of the flu vaccine program.
I agree with Doreen 100%, and to add, the vaccine industry got a Carte Blanche PR campaign go-ahead from the CDC after the 2003 shortage. At the time the vaccine manufacturers asked that the vaccination base is expanded so it is economically feasible to produce the vaccine. The CDC did not want another shortage and agreed to an expanded campaign to include children over 6 mo old and healthy adults. There were very few safety and efficacy studies done to prove efficacy in these new groups. The 2003-2004 study performed on healthcare workers in Colorado failed to show benefit for ILI (influenza like Illness), but the the CDC editor still put a positive spin on it saying that the vaccine protects against influenza A and B. In fact, this has never been proven. For example there has never been a study that measures the percentage of people who got the vaccine and got the flu vs. the ones that didn’t. I challenge ANY of the advocates to point us to a double-blind study that proves a benefit from the vaccine. Just one study like that would make a believer out of me! Many in healthcare seem to know this already and despite the constant nagging, and carefully crafted deceitful PR, only a minority of healthcare professionals gets the vaccine.
Thankfully my family’s healthcare providers have not taken this bait and haven’t tried to push us in to flu vaccination. The vaccine today is “lab quality” at best and this latest re-engineering of the vaccine to something completely different for next year proves it. What is scary is that the reporters that first broke the story were harassed extensively. Thankfully they stuck to their guns.
I don’t know about you but I hate being a guinea-pig or a lab mouse. Unfortunately my state (New Jersey) is forcing all pre-K and schoolchildren enrolling in daycare to get this ineffective and dangerous vaccine. It’s time to move out of here before my children reach 5 years of age.