Wow! Flu shot news in the US

[Guest guest]

WOW! I just read this off a News site..

Scary! Sure glad they caught it in time!

" Chiron was slated to provide U.S. authorities with between 46 million and

48 million doses of flu vaccine, roughly half the country's anticipated need

for the coming flu season. But British authorities announced Tuesday they

were suspending Chiron's licence.

The company announced in late August it had detected a contamination problem

in some lots of this year's flu vaccine. A review by Britain's Medicines and

Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency concluded Chiron's manufacturing

process did not comply with regulations.

U.S. officials said Tuesday the lots may have been contaminated with

serratia, a water-borne pathogen that can cause blood infections and

pneumonia in people with weakened immune systems - the very people medical

experts recommend get a flu shot.

The company's entire production run for the 2004-05 northern hemisphere flu

season is being junked.

Given the nature of flu vaccine production, American authorities will be

unable to fill much of the void with purchases from other manufacturers. Flu

vaccine takes months to produce. And because unsold product cannot be stored

for future years, manufacturers match production to purchase orders. "