One of the largest expansions of flu vaccination coverage in U.S. history by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee will cover an additional 30 million children between the ages of 6 months and 18 years old no later than the 2009-10 flu season.
Children tend to come down with the flu at higher rates than adults, but usually don't get as sick, even though this season there were 68 child deaths out of the the estimated 36,000 Americans who die each year from the disease.
"We want the recommendation expanded, because we hear even to this day people say, 'The recommendation doesn't apply to me. I don't have to get vaccinated.' It's completely the opposite," said Richard Kanowitz, president of Families Fighting Flu, who lost a 4-year-old daughter to influenza in 2004.. "You need to get vaccinated. The CDC just puts out a recommendation, and the confusion over whether people need to get vaccinated needs to be dispelled by having a clear message --everyone should get vaccinated. The more people who get vaccinated, the more lives get saved."
The virus strain most common in the United States right now is the influenza A H3N2 strain, and it's a strain not included in this year's vaccine, which is not well-matched against influenza type B and contributes to this year's flu season that has hit many areas of the country hard.
A new influenza strain has already been selected by the FDA for the 2008-09 flu vaccine recommended for adults and children ages 6 months to 18 years, which includes strains Brisbane/10, a version of the H3N2 flu; a second new Type A strain known as H1N1/Brisbane/59; and a newer Type B/Florida strain, that will hopefully protect U.S. citizens when flu season comes again.
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