Flu Vaccine a Failure 2003!

center for disease control | 12/15/03 | ABC news

[chicagolady]

Flu Vaccine Not Working--CDC Admits. What are Your Options?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had two choices when it came down to which flu formula to use for winter 2003. Should they stick with the same formula used last year in 2002, knowing that a new strain of the bug was developing? Or should they attempt to make a new vaccine that could possibly come with complications or delays and that could result in a shortage?

The first sign of the new flu bug showed up just two weeks before the committee was scheduled to meet. The scientists who track the flu had noticed a new strain was gathering mass. The overall decision to bring back the older version was decided on the fact that there wasn’t enough time to produce a new flu vaccine.

The committee met this past February and was told that the current vaccine might not work in protecting people from the new strain.

Even though the committee voted 17-1 to bring back last year’s version, they all have admitted that they made the wrong decision.

ABC News

[templar]

25% of the vaccinated people who actually become infected with the wild virus have enough cross-reactivity to limit contagion or disease

Mmmmm .... OK. Sure.

[netmilsmom]

No but there are other additives. Non-active ingredients.

Notice that no one who got this shot in my area got flu symptoms. I cannot explain it otherwise.

I had heard that this was a dead virus vaccine.

[bonesmccoy]

Your numbers are correct based upon last year's debacle.

However, last year we had the EXACT SAME problems with vaccine distribution. The problems have continued year-after-year and REQUIRE congressional investigation and possibly administrative DOJ review.

This is NOT a matter of "admirable goals"...this is a matter of US national security.

If we can not move flu vaccine for even 1/3rd of the nation, we have no hope of protecting our citizenry during an actual biological attack.

[bonesmccoy]

You may have had a stronger response to the vaccine than others. When your body responds to the vaccine antigen, it will respond exactly as if exposed to the actual virus (but for a shorter period of time because there is no virus around to continue the antigen production).

Usually a few doses of Ibuprofen or Naprosyn are enough to handle the symptoms.

Plenty of people get flu symptoms after the flu vaccine. The point is to attempt to limit contagion in the general population.

This point was lost during this and previous years because NO ONE IS INVESTIGATING WHY THE VACCINE COMPANIES ARE NOT PRODUCING SUFFICIENT QUANTITIES OF THE VACCINE!

[epow]

Not being a medical type I imagine a small percentage of people do get the flu from a flu shot

No they don't. As I understand it, the old vaccine that was used many years ago was a live virus type and it was remotely possible to get the flu from taking it. The vaccine used today is a killed virus type and it can't infect anyone. Of course Bonesmccoy knows far more about this than I do, but I think I'm correct.

In any case, my wife and I have taken the shot every season for the last 20 years or so and have not had the flu since. Colds yes, flu no. If you have had the real flu you know the difference. Before we started getting the shots I usually came down with flu at least once every other winter, and my wife a little less often. After years of nagging, our son's and daughter's famiies also began taking the shot a few years ago and have not had flu since.

My sister believes the old wive's tales and won't allow anyone in her family to take the shots. One or two of her family has the flu every year and no one in mine does, so you would think she would eventually realize that the old myths are just that, myths.

Since the vaccine this year was not formulated to protect against the most prevalent virus strain, someone in my family may get flu. But if so it won't be because the vaccine gave it to us.

[Barnacle]

There IS NO VIRUS IN THE VACCINE!

It helps to base your opinions on facts.

The following from: http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2003/NEW00913.html

“First Nasal Mist Flu Vaccine Approved FDA today approved FluMist, an influenza vaccine that is the first nasally administered vaccine to be marketed in the United States. It is also the first live virus influenza vaccine approved in the U.S.”

[Bernard Marx]

The Congress needs to investigate why only enough vaccine for 1/3 of the nation was made.

Thank socialism. The answer's in post #26. The manufacturers have been winnowed down to just a couple due to Hillary's scheming, and they're scared of not being paid by the government for any unused vaccine. When it became clear this was going to be a bad flu year it was too late to start the manufacturing process -- it takes 4 months. The vaccine that's available isn't specific to this year's strain.

[Bernard Marx]

As I understand it, the old vaccine that was used many years ago was a live virus type and it was remotely possible to get the flu from taking it. The vaccine used today is a killed virus type and it can't infect anyone. Of course Bonesmccoy knows far more about this than I do, but I think I'm correct.

That's what my doctor tells me. I'd gotten flu from flu shots in the past and balked at getting them, but the two years I've had the killed virus shots I've had no problems -- and no flu.

[mtbopfuyn]

You're seriously misinformed.

What exactly from my post was I seriously misinformed about?

I'm a board certified physician and use the vaccine yearly on myself.

After hitting delete several times, I'll leave this alone.

The Congressional investigation needs to be launched because the vaccine manufacturers are not producing sufficient quantities to create immunity in our nation.

What good does it do to produce a shot for each and every person when the CDC admits it's the wrong shot? Kinda defeats your argument.

[bonesmccoy]

Cross reactivity is good.

The more immunized the population, the less at risk the US citizenry is to related influenza strains.

[Lazamataz]

How long did your flu last?

[bonesmccoy]

Wyeth's product is live (intranasal spray of live attenuated virus).

Aventis makes the flu shot and does a good job with keeping it clean, but Aventis doesn't pick the strain (CDC does).

Congress needs to discuss these issues openly.

[Paleo Conservative]

There IS NO VIRUS IN THE VACCINE!

It helps to base your opinions on facts.

?First Nasal Mist Flu Vaccine Approved FDA today approved FluMist, an influenza vaccine that is the first nasally administered vaccine to be marketed in the United States. It is also the first live virus influenza vaccine approved in the U.S.?

I think bonesmccoy is referring to the conventional vaccines. The new intranasal vaccine is an attenuated vaccine, but it costs four times as much as the old fashioned injected vaccine. I am not willing to spend one penny more for a flu vaccine that does not require an injection. The needles used for the flu vaccine are so small, I barely feel them.

What's really needed is new methods of manufacturing flu vaccines that have shorter lead times.

[bonesmccoy]

see above message from Paleocon and the one above that from me.

[EllaMinnow]

I've gotten a flu shot every year of the last ten until this year. Twice I got the flu during the two-week period before the vaccine was effective, but I certainly don't blame the vaccine.

This year I wasn't able to get my flu shot before they started rationing the vaccine. I got hit so hard by the flu this time. I came down with it on December 15th, and I still have the fatigue and a slight cough.

I won't miss getting my shot again.

I am a very careful hand-washer - but I have a school-age child. Everything that I have caught for the past 20 years, I have caught from one of my children.

[Barnacle]

OK. However, even the injected form has virus, though it is dead.

[Triple Word Score]

Half the battle is to wash your freakin' hands.

The other half is to get everybody who is sick to stay home and wash THEIR hands there.

Short of taking a rifle around and capping off anyone who coughs, there may not be a way to implement #2.

[Triple Word Score]

NO ONE IS INVESTIGATING WHY THE VACCINE COMPANIES ARE NOT PRODUCING SUFFICIENT QUANTITIES OF THE VACCINE!

It might have something to do with people who will sue (and win) because of a bad outcome--whether or not a direct causal link between a product and the bad outcome can be established, and despite the fact that before one gets a vaccine one signs a paper conceding that even death is a remote but possible outcome from taking a vaccination.

This from a writer who has been unable to get a tetanus shot for four straight years. It's a travesty.

[codercpc]

I am not a Dr. and am not going to comment at all on the effectiveness of the flu shot, but I do need to question how you think that the Government should be responsible for vaccinating 75% of the population?

I worked in a Primary Care clinic for many years. For four of those years I was responsible for determining the amount of vaccines to order.

What most people don't realize is that we were generally required to order our vaccines for the year in April. This was done because the pharmaceutical companies needed to approximate how many vaccines to produce.

Every year I would take the last years vaccination rates and increase it by a slight amount. In all of the years I worked in the clinic, we only ran out of vaccine once. We were, in that case, able to get more vaccines from another clinic. Every other year we ended up throwing away vaccines because they sat unused. Our Physicians asked every patient if they would like a vaccine. Except for the year that we ran out, we never turned away a patient.

BTW, my clinic was owned by a company that also owned an HMO, and not once did I ever, ever, ever have that insurance company send out a memo asking us not to offer the vaccine, in fact that HMO routinely sent out letters reminding patients that it was flu shot time, and that they would cover the vaccine 100%.

I just don't see how the lack of vaccines this one year is the governments fault.

[Bernard Marx]

Here's the Fox News story about what happened this year, since that was where this thread started and I haven't seen a complete explanation posted. In order to prevent shortages, maybe we need more government subsidies, not fewer, as I suggested earlier. Anyhow here's the story:

Miscalculations Lead to Flu Vaccine Shortage

Friday, December 12, 2003

WASHINGTON — Nearly half of the states in the nation are reporting outbreaks of flu, in part because supplies of the vaccine are running thin in many places, and are non-existent in some.

That may be due, in part, to higher demand for the vaccine this year over last year, when too much supply left companies hesitant to make more than they could distribute.

"You have to have reserves when you don't know how much of a life-saving, vital product you're going to need," said Dr. Bernadine Healy, former head of the National Institutes of Health (search). "A lot of people, whether it be the government — whether it be manufacturers — don't want to invest in reserves because it often means throwing them out."

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.

"You have to have reserves and you don't know how much of a vital life-saving product you're going to need. The unexpected is what preparedness is about," Healy said.

Even over the summer, experts were not expecting increased demand. In June, Dr. Roland Levandowski, of the Food and Drug Administration's Division of Viral Products, told the American Medical News that supplies and distribution were "on schedule." Top American health officials suggested that vaccine supplies were sufficient and said they were more worried about not having enough demand.

But this year's flu is traveling at a faster pace than it was last year — hitting 11 states in just the last week. Though the strain doesn't appear to be any more virulent than in previous years, more people are getting sicker.

"It got off to an early start, starting as early in October is unusual ... In addition, we saw widespread activity ... much earlier in the flu season than is average," said Dr. Julie Gerberding (search), director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (search).

"It comes all of the sudden, you don't know what it is," said one patient, who with her mother, is under observation at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia.

On Thursday, the federal government agreed to buy an extra 250,000 doses of the vaccine from Aventis Pasteur. About 100,000 doses are available of the adult vaccine, while 150,000 doses are for children. Distribution will be limited, but even with the newly-located vaccine, it is not nearly enough to cover the 85 million or more Americans expected to seek the vaccination. No other vaccine is in reserve.

"It's a very spotty picture right now, but we don't have any information to suggest that there's a big reserve hidden away somewhere that we would be able to tap into," Gerberding said.

Each year, the government encourages 185 million Americans to get a flu shot, but it never sees to it that a supply that large is available. Healy said the government should be the purchaser and should be prepared. But Congress has not wanted to set aside millions of dollars each year that may never be used.

Each year on average, 36,000 Americans die from the flu and 114,000 are hospitalized, the CDC reports. Occupational health experts say a case of the flu costs workers an average of three lost work days and $400 in lost wages. The estimated losses in productivity for American businesses totals $12 billion annually.

Workers who are not vaccinated are more vulnerable to the flu and could drive up wage and productivity losses throughout the economy. That has some lawmakers rethinking congressional policy.

The effects of this year's flu are also being felt in other areas — schools in Missouri and Ohio are closed. Twenty-three school-age children have lost their lives in Colorado and other western states, and on Wednesday, news reports revealed that a college student in Massachusetts had died from the virus.

Hospitals are now being overrun with panicky parents bringing their children to the emergency rooms. One doctor said the effort may not be worth it.

"If he doesn't have respiratory distress, if he's not dehydrated, if he's not lethargic and has mental status changes, there's really not a reason that you need to be seen, because there's not anything we can really do for you," said Dr. Michael Altieri, chairman of pediatrics at Inova Fairfax Hospital.

Jim Young, president of research and development of Medimmune Inc. (search), said his company has produced an inhaled vaccine called Flumist (search). The product is costlier, and not meant for children under 5-years-old or seniors, but Young said his company has made about 4 million to 5 million doses of the vaccine.

"It's the first new flu vaccine in 50 years, and it's extremely safe, extremely effective in protecting children and adults against the flu virus," Young said.

States with widespread flu activity, according to the CDC: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Fox News' Major Garrett and Doug Luzader contributed to this report.