The Wall Street Journal reports that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of a vaccine to battle the spread of the H1N1 influenza virus, which will allow the government to begin a broad scale vaccination campaign beginning in mid-October.
According to the story, “Initially, the H1N1 vaccine will be reserved for health-care workers, pregnant women, children and young adults, who have been disproportionately affected by the new virus.
“So far, the new flu strain hasn't sickened very many Americans age 60 and older possibly because they have immunity from similar viruses that caused past influenza pandemics. The U.S. has seen additional cases of H1N1 influenza as schools resumed classes in recent weeks … it is likely that just one dose of the vaccine will be needed to protect adults against the virus, based on preliminary study results of some of the vaccines released last week.”
Up to 50 million vaccine doses are expected to be available next month, with more available as additional doses are produced.
According to the story, “Initially, the H1N1 vaccine will be reserved for health-care workers, pregnant women, children and young adults, who have been disproportionately affected by the new virus.
“So far, the new flu strain hasn't sickened very many Americans age 60 and older possibly because they have immunity from similar viruses that caused past influenza pandemics. The U.S. has seen additional cases of H1N1 influenza as schools resumed classes in recent weeks … it is likely that just one dose of the vaccine will be needed to protect adults against the virus, based on preliminary study results of some of the vaccines released last week.”
Up to 50 million vaccine doses are expected to be available next month, with more available as additional doses are produced.
- KC's View:
-
There are a lot of retailers out there, I gather, that will be offering H1N1 flu shots in their stores, and that’s a good thing. But I hope that even more retailers will be making arrangements to allow and encourage their employees to get flu shots … since so many of them are in contact with both food and people on a consistent basis.
In fact, I have no idea if this is possible, but wouldn’t it be nice if the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), which is having its Future Connect conference in Dallas from October 11-14, figured out a way of having a flu shot station on location for people to access … especially since it was concerns about H1N1 flu that got the conference postponed from May to next month to begin with.
Now, there may be all sorts of reasons that this does not make sense, or is even possible. It’s just an idea…and I think the message would be a good one.
