U.S. Health Officials Urge H1N1 Vaccination For All Groups

Dec 17, 2009 | 1:02PM
By Jennifer Corbett Dooren,
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Top federal health officials urged Americans to get vaccinated against the H1N1 influenza virus to prevent another wave of illnesses after the holidays.

"We finally have enough vaccine that for most of you, it's your turn," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said at press conference Thursday.

Illnesses from the H1N1 virus have fallen sharply in recent weeks with just 14 states reporting widespread influenza activity in the week that ended Dec. 5, down from 48 states that had reported widespread activity in mid-October. Health officials, however, fear there could be a resurgence of H1N1 illnesses starting in January following the holiday-travel season.

During the 1957-58 influenza pandemic there was a wave of illness in the late summer and early fall and then a decline before another wave of illness was seen in January and February. Officials are concerned the same thing could happen again and said getting vaccinated could prevent or slow the spread of another round of H1N1 illnesses. So far, H1N1 or swine flu has sickened at least 47 million Americans and killed nearly 10,000.

"We have the chance to lessen the impact or prevent a third wave," Sebelius said. The first wave of influenza started last spring before it waned over the summer and resurged after schools started in September and October.

Initially, H1N1 vaccines were limited to pregnant women, children, young adults and health-care workers, or the groups at the highest risk of becoming ill. Now with nearly 100 million doses of vaccine that have been shipped to the U.S. and more coming each day, many states have lifted those restrictions.

Drugstore chains like Walgreen Co. (WAG), CVS Caremark Corp. (CVS) and Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) have started offering H1N1 vaccine at some of their stores. Walgreen's said it would be offering the vaccine nationwide by the end of the month.

Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said most influenza illnesses are being caused by the H1N1 virus and not the seasonal influenza strains. However, he said seasonal influenza strains usually don't start circulating until now with a typical peak in February.

The U.S. has ordered about 250 million vaccine doses from five companies with the largest producers being Novartis AG (NVS) and Sanofi-Aventis SA (SNY), although health officials said they don't think the U.S. will need that much and have given back a portion of an order so that it can be sold to other countries.

-By Jennifer Corbett Dooren, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9294; jennifer.corbett@dowjones.com
hat-tip Pathfinder