US seasonal flu vaccine ships early

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has expanded its recommended target population for seasonal influenza immunization to about 258 million people or 84% of all US residents, although only 143 million doses of vaccine are due to be delivered, reflecting public indifference to the disease that can kill over 40,000 people and costs the US economy about $90.0 billion a year. The agency is also making a number of changes to its annual campaign in recognition of problems with the last flu season which were discussed at a national summit in Atlanta, Georgia (Marketletter May 19).

One notable change has been the decision to target three new strains of the disease for the 2008-2009 season, partly because of acknowledged failings with last year's vaccine. The prevalent flu strain to hit the USA earlier this year consisted of H3N2 A/Brisbane/10/2007-like viruses against which the selected agent was only moderately effective. Of the three types of disease that the combination vaccine for the coming US flu season is designed to protect against, two are currently prevalent in the Southern hemisphere, according to the Food and Drug Administration (Marketletter August 11).

Another change of policy has been the expansion of child coverage against flu. All children from six months to 18 years old are recommended to be immunized, compared with the previous advice that did not cover five-to-18 year olds. The shift is explained by the 83 recorded deaths among children from the disease.