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NEWS: Foreign flu vaccine on the way to U.S.

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posted on Dec, 7 2004 @ 06:53 AM
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Even though the flu season in the U.S. has had a slow start, the Food and Drug Administration has been working since October to acquire additional vaccine. It appears that these doses will come from Canadian drugmaker ID Biomedical and from a German plant operated by GlaxoSmithKline, a British drug manufacturer. So far there is no official word of how many doses will be distributed in the U.S.
 



seattlepi.nwsource.com
The Food and Drug Administration has signed off on the safety of a portion of 5 million doses that are available from plants in Canada and Germany. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson was scheduled to announce the vaccine purchase Tuesday.

The FDA has inspected the facilities where the vaccines were made. The agency also tested that they would be effective against the dominant flu strain expected in the United States and made sure the vaccines have been stored properly since they were made, HHS officials said Monday.

About 61 million doses have been available this season, including a nasal vaccine only for healthy people ages 5-49. The CDC has said 98 million people, including 9 million children, need the vaccine.



Please visit the link provided for the complete story.


A related story, found at www.ajc.com, states that this vaccine will be available as an "investigational" drug, since it was not developed under the watchful eyes of the FDA. Each year, the flu hospitalizes about 200,000 people and kills about 36,000 people in the United States. However, is our best approach at combating this virus an "investigational," unproven drug that has not been tested for safety by the FDA? My fear is that this could prove to be a case of the cure being worse than the disease.

Related News Links:
www.cdc.gov
www.ajc.com

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Flu vaccine - is it safe???
Flu Vaccine shortage: Population Control or public paranoia?

[edit on 12/7/2004 by sandge]



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