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News Release
Interim Influenza Vaccination Recommendations: 2004-05On October 5, 2004, CDC was notified by Chiron Corporation that none of its influenza vaccine (Fluvirin�) would be available for distribution in the United States for the 2004-05 influenza season. The company indicated that the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the United Kingdom, where Chiron's Fluvirin vaccine is produced, has suspended the company's license to manufacture Fluvirin vaccine in its Liverpool facility for 3 months, preventing any release of this vaccine for this influenza season. This action will reduce by approximately one half the expected supply of trivalent inactivated vaccine (flu shot) available in the United States for the 2004-05 influenza season. The remaining supply of influenza vaccine expected to be available in the United States this season is nearly 54 million doses of Fluzone� (inactivated flu shot) manufactured by Aventis Pasteur, Inc. Of these doses, approximately 30 million doses already have been distributed by the manufacturer. In addition, approximately 1.1 million doses of live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV/FluMist �) manufactured by MedImmune will be available this season. Because of this urgent situation, CDC, in coordination with its Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP), is issuing interim recommendations for influenza vaccination during the 2004-05 season. These interim recommendations were formally recommended by ACIP on October 5, 2004, and take precedence over earlier recommendations. Priority Groups for Influenza Vaccination The following priority groups for vaccination with inactivated influenza vaccine this season are considered to be of equal importance and are:
Other Vaccination Recommendations
Vaccination of Persons in Nonpriority Groups Persons who are not included in one of the priority groups described above should be informed about the urgent vaccine supply situation and asked to forego or defer vaccination. Persons Who Should Not Receive Influenza Vaccine Persons in the following groups should not receive influenza vaccine before talking with their doctor:
For more information, visit www.cdc.gov/flu, or call the National Immunization Hotline at (800) 232-2522 (English), (800) 232-0233 (espa�ol), or (800) 243-7889 (TTY). ### Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news. Last Revised: October 5, 2004 |