Vote & Vax Pushes Flu Shots at Election Day Polling Stations
In a stepped up effort to promote vaccination against influenza during the 2018-2019 “flu season,” the non-profit organization SPARC (Sickness Prevention Achieved through Regional Collaboration) of Lakeville, Connecticut sponsored a “Vote & Vax” campaign throughout the United States to offer free influenza vaccinations at polling stations on Election Day earlier this week.1 2 3 4 […]
CDC Advisory Committee Flip Flops on FluMist
On June, 22, 2016, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended against using the live nasal spray version of the influenza vaccine known as FluMist during the 2016-2017 influenza season. After reviewing data for 2013-2016, ACIP…
FDA Approves Four-Strain Flu Vaccine for Children
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently expanded the age indication for Seqirus’ Afluria Quadrivalent influenza vaccine to include patients aged five years or older. The FDA first approved Afluria in August 2016 for patients aged 18 years or older. The vaccine is…
Expanding Vaccination Rates by Allowing More People to Give Them
In 2009, public health officials in the United States responded to a predicted “heavy flu season” by passing a regulation allowing dentists, pharmacists, paramedics, nursing students and medical students to administer the annual influenza vaccine. Since then, it has…
FDA Gives Green Light to Test Lyme Disease Vaccine on Humans
Clinical trials for a new Lyme disease vaccine will be conducted in the U.S. and Belgium after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Union’s Clinical Trial Application gave Biotech firm Valneva of France clearance to begin Phase I testing. Valneva is developing VLA15, a hexavalent, protein subunit-based vaccine…
Fauci Says Zika Vaccine Coming by 2018
Director of the National Institutes for Health Anthony Fauci, MD announced this week that a Zika vaccine could be rushed to market as early as 2018. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has already launched two phase 1 Zika vaccine trials this year, including a genetically engineered vaccine. “I’m confident we’ll get a Zika vaccine, but it’s not going to be before 2018,” said Dr. Fauci…