(02-27) 16:49 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal health panel (of Pharmaceutical company scum and CDC workers who have been greased) on Wednesday voted unanimously to recommend flu shots for all school-age children, a move that will compel private insurers to cover the cost of such vaccinations and require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make the vaccine available for those who can't afford it.
The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices adopted the recommendation at the urging of the federal agency's own staff, which contends that flu shots will both protect the health of schoolchildren and reduce the risk for parents and grandparents who often contract influenza from them.
"I'm very excited about this," said Dr. Carol Baker, a member of the advisory panel and president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. "As a pediatrician, it is my responsibility to protect my patients from influenza."
The committee, voting 11-0, recommended that flu shots be provided to children 6 months to 18 years of age - a decision that would take effect in time for the next flu vaccine season beginning in the fall, provided enough vaccine is available. The committee said the recommendation must be fully implemented by the 2009-10 influenza season.
Until now, pediatric flu shots were recommended only for children under 6.
The decision adds about 30 million schoolchildren to the ranks of those who qualify for vaccination, and doctors estimate that about 7 million to 8 million of them will get the shots, or the nasal vaccine, next year.
There are about 60 million school-age children in the United States, and about half of them already qualified for flu shots because they had asthma or some other health condition that put them at risk, or they lived in a household where someone else was especially threatened by the virus.
Diane McGowan, a business analyst from Nazareth, Pa., said she wishes the decision had been made five years ago. On Feb. 9, 2005, her 15-year-old son, Martin, died of complications from flu, less than 24 hours after he came down with symptoms of fever and fatigue. The high school baseball player, who had a hard workout trying to make the team, quickly developed a rare condition that caused his leg muscles to harden and cut off his blood supply. He died on the operating table.
"This vote is monumental. I hope it gets the message out that the influenza virus is not a cold. It's not something to take lightly," said McGowan, a member of Families Fighting Flu, an organization of parents who have lost children to the virus. The group receives financial support from flu-shot makers.
The decision was criticized, however, by parents who believe that a mercury preservative, found in adult flu shots and once common in childhood vaccines, is responsible for rising rates of autism in the country.
"The CDC continues to minimize the dangers of injecting mercury and aluminum into our kids," said Rita Shreffler, executive director of the National Autism Association. "I'm living with the results as so many other parents are, and it's just horrific." Shreffler is the mother of two children, 14 and 15, who developed autism at the age of 18 months after routine vaccinations.
Flu shot supporters said multiple studies have failed to find any link between autism and the preservative, thimerosal. However, the CDC ordered it removed from required childhood vaccines eight years ago, and California law bans it from flu vaccine given to pregnant women or children under 3.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/28/MN8RV9QB8.DTL&type=health
The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices adopted the recommendation at the urging of the federal agency's own staff, which contends that flu shots will both protect the health of schoolchildren and reduce the risk for parents and grandparents who often contract influenza from them.
"I'm very excited about this," said Dr. Carol Baker, a member of the advisory panel and president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. "As a pediatrician, it is my responsibility to protect my patients from influenza."
The committee, voting 11-0, recommended that flu shots be provided to children 6 months to 18 years of age - a decision that would take effect in time for the next flu vaccine season beginning in the fall, provided enough vaccine is available. The committee said the recommendation must be fully implemented by the 2009-10 influenza season.
Until now, pediatric flu shots were recommended only for children under 6.
The decision adds about 30 million schoolchildren to the ranks of those who qualify for vaccination, and doctors estimate that about 7 million to 8 million of them will get the shots, or the nasal vaccine, next year.
There are about 60 million school-age children in the United States, and about half of them already qualified for flu shots because they had asthma or some other health condition that put them at risk, or they lived in a household where someone else was especially threatened by the virus.
Diane McGowan, a business analyst from Nazareth, Pa., said she wishes the decision had been made five years ago. On Feb. 9, 2005, her 15-year-old son, Martin, died of complications from flu, less than 24 hours after he came down with symptoms of fever and fatigue. The high school baseball player, who had a hard workout trying to make the team, quickly developed a rare condition that caused his leg muscles to harden and cut off his blood supply. He died on the operating table.
"This vote is monumental. I hope it gets the message out that the influenza virus is not a cold. It's not something to take lightly," said McGowan, a member of Families Fighting Flu, an organization of parents who have lost children to the virus. The group receives financial support from flu-shot makers.
The decision was criticized, however, by parents who believe that a mercury preservative, found in adult flu shots and once common in childhood vaccines, is responsible for rising rates of autism in the country.
"The CDC continues to minimize the dangers of injecting mercury and aluminum into our kids," said Rita Shreffler, executive director of the National Autism Association. "I'm living with the results as so many other parents are, and it's just horrific." Shreffler is the mother of two children, 14 and 15, who developed autism at the age of 18 months after routine vaccinations.
Flu shot supporters said multiple studies have failed to find any link between autism and the preservative, thimerosal. However, the CDC ordered it removed from required childhood vaccines eight years ago, and California law bans it from flu vaccine given to pregnant women or children under 3.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/28/MN8RV9QB8.DTL&type=health
