Sunday, January 4, 2015

Flu Season Will be 'Significant' With Weak Vaccine, Tamiflu Shortages



Flu Season Will be 'Significant' With Weak Vaccine, Tamiflu Shortages
Saturday, 03 Jan 2015 05:34 PM
By Sandy Fitzgerald
Pharmacies across the country are reporting intermittent shortages of Tamiflu, the main antiviral medication used to lessen influenza symptoms just days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designated the disease at epidemic levels.

"For people in the risk categories, the young, the pregnant, people with diabetes, people over 65, if they do get the flu, it's important to get them on the anti-flu medications," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN Saturday.

The flu season has not yet reached its peak, Fauci said, and there is no way to predict where and when flu cases will hit in specific places.

"It will be a significant season," Fauci said. "Even if you don't know when it's going to peak, get your child vaccinated."

The flu can be dangerous for people in the risk categories, said Fauci, so it's important to get those people to a physician so they can get on medication. He urged people with healthy children to keep them away from people who are sick, and to keep their children home from school if they do become ill.

Although there have been reports that this year's flu vaccine is only about 61 percent effective in fighting the current strain of the flu, it's still wise to have the shot, Fauci said.

"I think we will see a continuation, and I would not be surprised if we continue to see upticks," Fauci said of the epidemic. The vaccine can still help people with many other flu strains that are not prevalent this season, but still remain a danger, and can still help lessen the symptoms of the strain that is going around.

Pharmacies in some markets say they're having some difficulty getting Tamiflu. Further, the medication is expensive, running about $140 a pack, and many people without prescription or health coverage can't afford it.

"We actually went through more Tamiflu the first two weeks of the flu season this year than we did all of last winter," Smith Pharmacy owner Nic Smith, in Little Chute, Wis., told Green Bay's NBC affiliate Channel 26. "We ran out last Saturday and I called several pharmacies and nobody had it," he continued.

“Because we weren’t expecting the flu to be this bad this year, the company just isn’t making enough Tamiflu. So, we are seeing a shortage at all the pharmacies in town as well as Indianapolis,” Gina Games, of JR Pharmacy in Terre Haute, Ind., told CBS and FOX affiliate WTHI.

The owner of Curtis Pharmacy in Washington, Penn., just outside Pittsburgh, told The Observer-Reporter that its pharmacies are “fully stocked” in both the liquid and tablet forms of the medication, but just because it orders the antiviral drug in bulk amounts of three to four dozen packs at once.

Even with that, it's been hard to keep supply ahead of demand, which has been "pretty crazy" in the past few weeks, Erich Cushey told the newspaper.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease is a division of the National Institutes of Health.

Note: Ezekiel Emanuel was a founding chair of the Department of Bioethics for the National Institutes of Health, the health care policy adviser for the Barack Obama administration, is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, and Rahm I. Emanuel’s brother.
George Soros was a supporter for the Center for American Progress, a benefactor for the Harlem Children's Zone, and the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.                      
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Center for American Progress, the Harlem Children's Zone, the Brookings Institution (think tank), and the Climate Reality Project.  
Michael R. Bloomberg was a benefactor for the Harlem Children's Zone, and is the founder of the Bloomberg Family Foundation.
Bloomberg Family Foundation was a funder for the CDC Foundation.
CDC Foundation is a foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Rahm I. Emanuel is Ezekiel Emanuel’s brother, a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, the Chicago (IL) mayor, and was the White House chief of staff for the Barack Obama administration.
R. Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
Newton N. Minow is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
Michelle Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.                    
Barack Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.
Sidley Austin LLP was the lobby firm for Genentech, Inc. (The makers of Tamiflu), and is the lobby firm for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP is the lobby firm for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and was a funder for the Center for American Progress.
Ezekiel Emanuel is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, Rahm I. Emanuel’s brother, was a founding chair of the Department of Bioethics for the National Institutes of Health, and the health care policy adviser for the Barack Obama administration.
Vernon E. Jordan Jr. is a senior counsel for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), an Oak Bluffs (MA) homeowner, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Cyrus F. Freidheim Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Valerie B. Jarrett is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, the senior adviser for the Barack Obama administration, and her great uncle is Vernon E. Jordan Jr.
Louis W. Sullivan is an Oak Bluffs (MA) homeowner, was the secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the president of the Morehouse School of Medicine.
David Satcher was the surgeon general for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the interim president for the Morehouse School of Medicine, a director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and is a board member of the CDC Foundation.
CDC Foundation is a foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Bloomberg Family Foundation was a funder for the CDC Foundation.
Michael R. Bloomberg is the founder of the Bloomberg Family Foundation, and a co-chair for Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
Raben Group is the lobby firm for Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and was the for the Morehouse School of Medicine.
Eric H. Holder Jr. is a trustee at the Morehouse School of Medicine, and the attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice for the Barack Obama administration.
Melody C. Barnes was a principal at the Raben Group, the domestic policy council, director for the Barack Obama administration, the EVP for the Center for American Progress, and is Barack Obama’s golf partner.
Ezekiel Emanuel is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, and Rahm I. Emanuel’s brother, was the health care policy adviser for the Barack Obama administration, and a founding chair of the Department of Bioethics for the National Institutes of Health.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease is a division of the National Institutes of Health.
Barack Obama’s golf partner is Melody C. Barnes, the president of the Barack Obama administration, and was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.
Sidley Austin LLP was the lobby firm for Genentech, Inc. (The makers of Tamiflu), and is the lobby firm for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
Tamiflu
Genentech
Genentech, Inc. (The makers of Tamiflu) was a contributor for the 2013 Barack Obama inaugural committee.
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers was an investor in Genentech, Inc. (The makers of Tamiflu), and a donor for The Climate Project.
The Climate Project is a merged organization with the Climate Reality Project.
Albert A. Gore Jr. is the chairman for the Climate Reality Project, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and David W. Beier was his domestic policy adviser.
David W. Beier was Albert A. Gore Jr’s domestic policy adviser, and a VP at Genentech, Inc. (The makers of Tamiflu).
Thomas J. Perkins was the chairman for Genentech, Inc. (The makers of Tamiflu), and is a partner emeritus at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Ask a Patient
SIDE EFFECTS FOR TAMIFLU & PATIENT REVIEWS







































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