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Quick takes: Challenge to ACIP on kids’ vaccines, flu rising in Europe, pandemic flu vaccine funds
News brief
Today at 4:04 p.m.
Stephanie Soucheray, MA
Quick takes: Challenge to ACIP on kids’ vaccines, flu rising in Europe, pandemic flu vaccine funds
News brief
Today at 4:04 p.m.
Stephanie Soucheray, MA
- The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) led a group of medical professional societies, arguing in federal court yesterday in Massachusetts that the recent changes to vaccine recommendations by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) violate the Administrative Procedure Act and the Federal Advisory Committee Act. A decision on the government’s motion to dismiss is expected the first week of January, the AAP said in a press release. “Right now, our children need strong government leadership,” said Susan Kressly, MD, AAP president and the lead plaintiff.
- The European office of the World Health Organization (WHO) said at least 27 of the 38 countries reporting data in its European Region are seeing early and intense flu activity, about a month ahead of schedule. Flu positivity rates are highest in Ireland, Kyrgyzstan, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom, where half of all patients tested are positive for influenza. “A new strain—A(H3N2) subclade K—is driving infections, though there is no evidence that it causes more severe disease. This new variant of seasonal flu now accounts for up to 90% of all confirmed influenza cases in the European Region,” said Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, in a WHO Europe news release. Kluge emphasized that the current flu season with subclade K is not a global emergency, and urged seasonal flu vaccination.
- Today CEPI (the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) announced it will invest up to $54.3 million to support a phase 3 clinical trial that aims to advance Moderna’s investigational mRNA-based H5 pandemic influenza vaccine candidate, mRNA-1018, to licensure. The study would be the first mRNA-based vaccine targeting pandemic influenza to enter a phase 3 trial, and would contribute to CEPI’s 100 Days Mission, which aims to have a vaccine ready within 100 days of a new pandemic threat being identified. “mRNA technology can play a vital role in addressing emerging health threats quickly and effectively, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with CEPI as we advance our health security portfolio,” said Stephane Bancel, MBA, MEng, CEO of Moderna.