The United States is expected to have at least 132 million flu-vaccine doses on hand for this year’s flu season.
Sanofi Pasteur Inc said it would have 50 million doses. Novartis AG said it would have 40 million doses, GlaxoSmithKline Plc said it would have 30 million to 35 million doses and MedImmune said it would provide 7 million doses.
CSL Biotherapies, an Australian vaccine maker company, said it could provide some vaccine as well, if it got approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
‘To protect people, we need more vaccine,’ said Dr. Jeanne Santoli, deputy director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s immunization services division.
The CDC and other health officials are eager to increase the percentage of Americans who get vaccines each year against seasonal influenza, which kills about 36,000 people in an average U.S. flu season and puts 200,000 into the hospital.
But usually, hundreds of thousands of doses of vaccine weren’t used during the flu season and are thrown away.
For the 2006-2007 season, 120.9 million doses were produced, of which 102.5 million doses were distributed according to demand. One million went into a government stockpile and nearly 18 million were unsold and thrown away, the CDC said.
Image
Source