Vaccine for swine flu is ahead of expectations

RSS

New York Times, September 21, 2009

More than three million doses of swine flu vaccine will be available by the first week of October, a little earlier than had been anticipated, federal health officials announced. But nearly all those 3.4 million doses will be of the FluMist nasal spray type, which is not recommended for pregnant women, people over 50 or those with asthma, heart disease or several other problems, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned. Nonetheless, it will still be possible to vaccinate people in other high-risk groups: healthcare workers, people caring for infants, and healthy young people.

Full Story

Health spending rose in 2009, but at low rate

Total national health spending grew by 4% in 2009, the slowest rate of increase in 50 years, as people lost their jobs, lost health insurance and deferred medical care, the federal government reported on...

Swine flu toll on Australia is bad omen for U.S. intensive-care units

Pandemic H1N1 influenza caused a 15-fold increase in admissions to intensive-care units for lung problems in Australia and New Zealand during the winter flu season, researchers reported in the New England...

U.S. to donate 10 percent of swine flu vaccine to WHO

The United States plans to donate 10% of its supply of pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine to the World Health Organization for use in low-income countries. The nation has on order 195 million doses of the swine...

go to complete list