“Just because a lot of people are taking off for the holidays does not mean that this flu virus will.” So says Anne Schuchat, M.D., director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
Just before Christmas, Schuchat had some cheerful and some cautionary news about the H1N1 bug. The “disease is at a better state around the country than it had been,” she said in a press conference. What’s more, about 111 million doses of vaccine had been made available around the country and an estimated 60 million people had been vaccinated.
But all the flu the CDC is seeing is the H1N1 virus, “so its not gone at all,” Schuchat noted. Since “none of us know what the weeks and months ahead will bring,” she added, “it’s very important not to be complacent right now about the ongoing risk.”
Of particular concern to Schuchat are children under 10. The CDC continues to recommend two doses, about one month apart, for this age group but her data shows that as of early December only about 2 million had gotten a second dose. “It’s really important to finish the series,” she said, even if the second dose is five to six weeks after the first. “You do need to get that second dose in.” (Learn more about the importantce of hand-washing.)
A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggested that only one dose of the vaccine may be sufficient to provide adequate immunization in children. However, Schuchat disagreed, noting that study involved only one particular vaccine in one group of children at one point in time. “Based on everything that I know right now, I think it’s very important for parents” to make sure their children get the second H1N1 dose, she said.
That’s probably all the more true in case your child got a dose from a recently recalled batch of vaccine. The CDC has announced two recalls, neither for safety but both because they may have lost some of their desired potency since they were shipped.
The first recall involved four lots—800,000 doses of certain prefilled syringes of pediatric vaccine made by Sanofi Pasteur. The second recall involved 13 lots, totally 4.7 million doses, of nasal spray vaccine from MedImmune.
Dan Levy, M.D., a pediatrician and spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics, says parents should not be overly concerned about the recalls. There’s no need to call your pediatrician and try to find out if your child had one of the recalled doses, he says. “Kids who got a dose with reduced potency may not have the degree of immunity we expected but the dose may be enough to reduce widespread recurrence. And even if the child does get the flu, it’s very possible it will be a more mild case and won’t last as long” as it would if the child had never gotten a dose, Levy says.
Caroline Mayer, guest blogger
