New thinking about flu vaccination

Prospects for increased influenza vaccine production are leading to more and different strategies to increase its uptake.

Editorial. May 28, 2007.

Spring is in the air. For many physicians, it's the season of allergy complaints and questions about Lyme disease and West Nile virus. Contemplating the influenza vaccine is not a high priority.

But it is for physicians and those in public health who are trying to address the problems that have bedeviled flu vaccine distribution. Their new approaches -- and what is hoped will be standard operating procedure at the practice level -- were a central theme of this year's National Influenza Vaccine Summit, which was held last month and co-sponsored by the American Medical Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

After all, although the flu bug is ever changing, it always holds the potential to do harm. On average, according to the CDC, every year an estimated 5% to 20% of the U.S. population gets the flu. More than 200,000 people are hospitalized because of complications, and about 36,000 die.

The good news is that flu vaccine makers expect 132 million doses -- a record-breaking haul -- to be available in the 2007-08 season. And with the number of manufacturers up from two to four and one more seeking Food and Drug Administration approval to enter the U.S. market, public health experts predict better supply stability.

These positive developments, though, have triggered a new set of challenges. The flu summit is the forum for finding and spreading the solutions.

The group, first convened by the AMA and CDC in 2001 to examine supply-related difficulties in the flu vaccine delivery system, has grown to include more than 225 experts representing more than 115 diverse organizations. Though these stakeholders continue to hold postmortems on recent bumpy seasons, they also are focused on developing ways to take advantage of the increased supply. The AMA, which encourages influenza vaccination and supports the equitable distribution of this commodity, continues to play a leadership role.