Swine Flu Watch: School’s Out in NY
>>WHO meets on production of swine flu vaccine
As swine flu cases topped 6,600 worldwide, vaccine makers and other experts met Thursday at the World Health Organization to discuss the tough decisions that must be made quickly to fight the evolving virus.
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“It’s a foregone conclusion,” said David Fedson, a vaccines expert and former professor of medicine at the University of Virginia. “If we don’t invest in an H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine, then possibly we could have a reappearance of this virus in a mild, moderate, or catastrophic form and we would have absolutely nothing.”
Most flu vaccine companies can only make one vaccine at a time: seasonal flu vaccine or pandemic vaccine. Production takes months and it is impossible to switch halfway through if health officials make a mistake.
Full Article: here.
>>Swine Flu Outbreak Shuts Down 3 Schools
New York City has closed three schools in response to a swine flu outbreak that has left an assistant principal in critical condition and sent hundreds of children home with flu symptoms, in a flare-up of the virus that caused such concern around the world last month.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I) said four students and the assistant principal have documented cases of the H1N1 flu at a Queens middle school. More than 50 students at the school have gone home sick with flulike symptoms, he said. At another Queens middle school, 241 students were absent Thursday. Dozens more were sick at an elementary school.
Full Article: here.
Tags: h1n1, news round-up, swine flu
