Maker of FluMist Wants it Mandatory For Ages 5-18

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Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

Maker of FluMist wants product to be mandatory for ages 5 to 18!

 

http://www.newstarget.com/002335.html

Friday, November 12, 2004 commentary:

 

MedImmune wants to make flu vaccine mandatory for children

Continuing with conventional medicine's desire to dose our nation's

children with a bewildering array of vaccines and psychoactive drugs

(like Ritalin), the MedImmune company now wants its FluMist nasal

vaccine to be given to all children between the ages of 5 and 18.

 

It's a fantastic plan for selling tens of millions of doses of

FluMist. But it's a poor plan for actually protecting the health of

the public: most flu vaccines are useless because they often target

the wrong viral strain. Even worse, many pioneering doctors explain

that annual vaccinations tend to weaken the human immune system,

making it less capable of fighting off infection on its own.

 

News summary:

Source:

http://story.news./news?

tmpl=story & cid=571 & ncid=751 & e=5 & u=/nm/20041028/hl_nm/health_flu_medim

unne_dc

 

* MedImmune's FluMist nasal vaccine should be included in the

U.S. government's Vaccines for Children program, expanding its

distribution to children over the age of 5 and teens, federal

advisers said on Thursday.

* MedImmune said the Advisory Committee on Immunization

Practices meeting in Atlanta had expanded its recommendations on

FluMist to include children and adolescents aged 5 to 18 for the

2005-2006 season.

* The vaccine, a weakened version of the influenza virus

dripped into the nose, is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration (news - web sites) for healthy adults and children

aged 5 to 50.

* After poor sales last year, MedImmune cut its production of

FluMist from 5 million doses last year to 2 million this year.

* It squeezed out an extra 1 million doses, making 3 million,

after Chiron Corp. lost its British license and 48 million flu shots

due to contamination at a plant in Liverpool.

* MedImmune said in June that only 900,000 doses of the vaccine

were sold last season, of which 50 percent were returned because of

poor demand.

* It has lowered its price for the vaccine from by about half,

to $16.00 wholesale per nonreturnable dose or $23.50 wholesale per

returnable dose.

* Chiron's troubles halved the estimated U.S. vaccine supply,

but U.S. officials and companies making flu vaccine have brought it

up to 61 million doses out of an anticipated 100 million doses.

* Last year about 83 million Americans got vaccinated against

influenza, which kills about 36,000 people in an average year and

puts 200,000 into the hospital.

* The federal government tries to buy some flu vaccine doses to

make available to people in high need who cannot afford to pay.

* The Vaccines for Children program supplies free vaccine to

children enrolled in Medicaid, who lack insurance, and to American

Indian or Alaskan Native children.