Swine Flu vaccine was not available to prevent infections as the
swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is a new virus. And the seasonal flu
vaccine that many of the infected people receive will not provide any
protection against the swine flu virus. Recently A vaccine has been
developed, tested, and now FDA approved and will be available in
October to help prevent infections from the 2009 H1N1 strain of the
flu.
CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends
that swine flu vaccine should first go to:
Pregnant women, Household contacts and care givers for children
younger than 6 months of age. Healthcare and emergency medical
services personnel. All children and young adults from 6 months
through 24 years of age, and Persons aged 25 through 64 years who have
health conditions associated with higher risk of medical complications
from influenza. Lastly, people 65 or older, who have the least risk
from the swine flu, will be offered the swine flu vaccine.
That will take up about 159 million doses of swine flu vaccine.
It will be possible to get both a seasonal flu vaccine and the 2009
H1N1 swine flu vaccine at the same time, unless they are both the
nasal spray version of the flu vaccine. Instead, kids can get one as a
nasal spray and one as a flu shot, or both as flu shots. And as
expected, kids who are nine years old and under will need two doses of
the 2009 H1N1 swine flu vaccine separated by at least twenty-one days
to get full protection against the swine flu. Older children, like
adults, will need just one dose.
Finding Swine Flu Shots
Five companies are making H1N1 swine flu shots, including Sanofi
Pasteur, Novartis, GSK, Medimmune and CSL, doctors won't be able to
directly order swine flu vaccine from them. Instead, the federal
government is purchasing all of the swine flu shots and then is
distributing them via a centralized distribution program.
Pediatricians and other health care providers should begin to
preregister now if they want to receive swine flu vaccine to give
their patients.
Swine Flu Vaccine Trials
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the
National Institutes of Health, has conducted swine flu clinical trials
to make sure the new swine flu vaccines are safe and effective. They
were conducted at eight university research hospitals and medical
organizations across the United States, including Baylor College of
Medicine in Houston, Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati,
and Emory University in Atlanta. The first clinical trials tested
whether one or two doses are needed and will test both 15mcg and 30mcg
doses of vaccine. Although the trials started in adults, they were
also tested in children.
1976 Swine Flu Vaccine
Although it is true that we don't currently have a swine flu vaccine,
there once was a swine flu vaccine that was made to target the swine
flu H1N1 strain that was found at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Because of
fears that this swine flu strain was similar to the flu strain that
caused the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, a vaccination program immunized
more than 40 million people in the United States between October 1976
to December 1976. The immunization program was stopped early because
the swine flu pandemic didn't occur, and the swine flu vaccine was
thought to cause many side effects, including Guillain-Barre syndrome.
