| ■ Swine flu 'should be included in new seasonal vaccine' | 2010.02.19 |
| GENEVA (AFP) Thu Feb 18, 6:26 AM PST - The WHO said Thursday that the swine flu pandemic virus would spread again next winter in the northern hemisphere and recommended its inclusion in the regular influenza vaccine. Protection against two other seasonal strains should be incorporated along with the A(H1N1) pandemic strain that swept across the world in 2009, the UN health agency said after a biannual meeting of flu vaccine experts. The recommendation came as the WHO estimated that some 200 million people worldwide had received a dedicated anti-pandemic jab since it was offered late last year. "The recommendation is a separate issue from whether the pandemic is over. No it is not over," said Keiji Fukuda, special adviser to the WHO Director-General on pandemic influenza. "We hope that the worst is over and overall trend is going down," he told journalists. Viruses included in the annual seasonal vaccines -- in minute doses to trigger the immune system -- are regarded as a likely "significant threat," especially for young children, the infirm and the elderly. The UN health agency had already made a similar recommendation last September for the southern hemisphere seasonal flu vaccine for 2010. |