Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.tv3.co.nz/News/Story/tabid/209/articleID/53104/cat/41/Default.aspx
Health officials say NZ flu shots different to failed US jabs
Sun, 20 Apr 2008 07:27a.m.
New Zealand health officials say two of the influenza strains in a mass vaccination campaign now being rolled out here are different to those in a formulation which appears to have failed in the United States.
Centre for Disease Control (CDC) doctors say the northern hemisphere seasonal flu vaccine used in the US over the past winter there appears to have been be much less effective than usual.
People who were vaccinated proved only 44 percent less likely to get influenza than unvaccinated people, compared to typical vaccine effectiveness of around 70 percent or higher.
Because of this the CDC and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have recommended a complete reformulation of next year's flu northern hemisphere vaccine because of the poor match during the 2007-2008 flu season, which officials described as moderately severe.
The American officials said two of the three circulating strains of flu most likely to cause disease had "drifted," or evolved, away from the virus cocktail used in the vaccine.
But Anna-Marie Frost, of Auckland, chairwoman of the National Influenza Strategy Group, told NZPA: "The New Zealand vaccine differs by two different selected strains from the Northern Hemisphere 2007-2008 vaccine".
The southern hemisphere mix being used to protect New Zealanders is made up of three strains:
* A/Solomon Islands/3/2006 (H1N1)-like virus
* A/Brisbane/10/2007 (H3N2)-like virus
* B/Florida/4/2006-like virus.
The mix used in the USA had the Solomons strain, but not the other two, instead using A/Wisconsin/67/2005 (H3N2)-like virus and B/Malaysia/2506/2004-like virus.
WHO has recommended that vaccines for use in the next northern hemisphere flu season, at Christmas, (northern hemisphere winter) should contain the same Brisbane and Florida viruses now being injected in New Zealand.
"Flu viruses constantly change and mutate, which makes the job of recommending vaccine composition challenging," said Ms Frost, who expects about 760,000 flu shots to be distributed. The United States recommends vaccinations for all children aged six months to
18 years, but the NZ Government only funds free jabs for people over 65 and or suffering from some chronic illnesses.
In 2007, 745,189 received subsidised vaccinations, down from the 2006 record of 761,150 .
Flu kills about 100 people annually in New Zealand, but in the United States, flu infects from 5 percent to 20 percent of that population each year and kills an estimated 36,000 Americans - most of them elderly - in an average year, plus about 60 or 70 children.
Dr Dan Jernigan of the CDC told Reuters that in the past winter the less-than-optimal match in two of the three vaccine components made it the least effective since the 1997-1998 flu season, when the effectiveness was very low.
This flu season was only the fourth in the past 20 years in which the viruses targeted in the vaccine were not good matches for CDC officials said that even partially-effective vaccine still provided some protection.
Influenza strains are named after the area/region of the laboratory that first isolated the virus as a new strain.
NZPA
Health officials say NZ flu shots different to failed US jabs
Sun, 20 Apr 2008 07:27a.m.
New Zealand health officials say two of the influenza strains in a mass vaccination campaign now being rolled out here are different to those in a formulation which appears to have failed in the United States.
Centre for Disease Control (CDC) doctors say the northern hemisphere seasonal flu vaccine used in the US over the past winter there appears to have been be much less effective than usual.
People who were vaccinated proved only 44 percent less likely to get influenza than unvaccinated people, compared to typical vaccine effectiveness of around 70 percent or higher.
Because of this the CDC and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have recommended a complete reformulation of next year's flu northern hemisphere vaccine because of the poor match during the 2007-2008 flu season, which officials described as moderately severe.
The American officials said two of the three circulating strains of flu most likely to cause disease had "drifted," or evolved, away from the virus cocktail used in the vaccine.
But Anna-Marie Frost, of Auckland, chairwoman of the National Influenza Strategy Group, told NZPA: "The New Zealand vaccine differs by two different selected strains from the Northern Hemisphere 2007-2008 vaccine".
The southern hemisphere mix being used to protect New Zealanders is made up of three strains:
* A/Solomon Islands/3/2006 (H1N1)-like virus
* A/Brisbane/10/2007 (H3N2)-like virus
* B/Florida/4/2006-like virus.
The mix used in the USA had the Solomons strain, but not the other two, instead using A/Wisconsin/67/2005 (H3N2)-like virus and B/Malaysia/2506/2004-like virus.
WHO has recommended that vaccines for use in the next northern hemisphere flu season, at Christmas, (northern hemisphere winter) should contain the same Brisbane and Florida viruses now being injected in New Zealand.
"Flu viruses constantly change and mutate, which makes the job of recommending vaccine composition challenging," said Ms Frost, who expects about 760,000 flu shots to be distributed. The United States recommends vaccinations for all children aged six months to
18 years, but the NZ Government only funds free jabs for people over 65 and or suffering from some chronic illnesses.
In 2007, 745,189 received subsidised vaccinations, down from the 2006 record of 761,150 .
Flu kills about 100 people annually in New Zealand, but in the United States, flu infects from 5 percent to 20 percent of that population each year and kills an estimated 36,000 Americans - most of them elderly - in an average year, plus about 60 or 70 children.
Dr Dan Jernigan of the CDC told Reuters that in the past winter the less-than-optimal match in two of the three vaccine components made it the least effective since the 1997-1998 flu season, when the effectiveness was very low.
This flu season was only the fourth in the past 20 years in which the viruses targeted in the vaccine were not good matches for CDC officials said that even partially-effective vaccine still provided some protection.
Influenza strains are named after the area/region of the laboratory that first isolated the virus as a new strain.
NZPA