Panel wants flu shots for age 50 and up -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Prevention is Better than cure!!

The best way to prevent Flu, is keep warm, drink warm water, Drink Green Tea,
Chrysanthemum & Honey Sucker Tea,
Ginger & Onion Tea

Avoid meat & fish if you got the flu. No oilly food.

Panel wants flu shots for age 50 and up

By LOUISE CHU ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

ATLANTA -- Worried that tens of thousands of doses may go to waste, a federal advisory panel wants the government to ease restrictions on the nation's supply of flu vaccine.

The panel recommended Friday that the shots be made available to everyone 50 and older.

The U.S. supply of flu vaccine was cut in half earlier this year when a Liverpool, England, factory was shut down because of contamination.

In response, the government recommended in October that healthy adults delay or skip a flu shot this season to save vaccine for the estimated 98 million people in the country who need it most - the elderly, infants or those with chronic conditions.

Those people are at highest risk of severe complications or death from the flu, which kills on average 36,000 people and hospitalizes 200,000 each year in the country.

But more than four out of five states report having sufficient supplies of flu shots, and at least six states have reported a surplus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

One reason is that many of the elderly or chronically ill people who were given top priority for flu vaccinations did not even try to obtain a shot because they figured they would not be able to get one. Also, the flu season has been mild so far.

A flu shot is only good for the flu season it is made for, and any excess must be disposed of at the end of the season, which can run through April.Read More...
Seattle Post-Intelligencer