Steve Anthony: True Canadian Pharmacy

p But as of Tuesday, three new groups were eligible for the H1N1 vaccine:
As of Tuesday, Nova Scotia had received 207,400 doses of H1N1 vaccine and about 15 per cent of the population has been inoculated. Dr. Once the vaccine was restricted to only priority high-risk groups, the company offered to give the vaccine back but was turned down, said Derek Estabrook, vice-president of marketing for Farmers Dairy. Vaccination clinics in the province !–more– are closed for Remembrance Day, though flu assessment centres are still open. Ultimately, all Nova Scotians are at some risk, so while it’s not following our current rules, they were given the vaccine under a different set of rules and we just need to keep using it, Strang said. It’s far better they just keep using it than just have it sit in the fridge unused. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia chief public health officer
The company requested the doses weeks before the current restrictions were put in place, when the Department of Health allowed big employers to look after the vaccination of their own staff. Robert Strang, the province’s chief public health officer, said it’s a matter of quality control, and the dairy company did the right thing by using the doses. A major dairy company serving Atlantic Canada did nothing wrong in immunizing employees against swine flu even though they weren’t a priority group, Nova Scotia public health officials say. Estabrook said the company was told there was no guarantee the doses had been kept at the proper temperature. —Dr. Nova Scotia narrowed the list of people who can get the shot to only priority groups because of a Canada-wide vaccine shortfall. About 100 Farmers Dairy employees in Hammonds Plains and Truro received the H1N1 shot on Monday, including those outside the announced high-risk categories. Strang said it could take until February before all Nova Scotians have access to the vaccine. Health said that they could not take it back and that we should use our best judgment and administer it from there, he said.

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p Seasonal flu vaccinations for people older than 65 and residents of long-term care homes will take place in October, since those groups are considered to be at greater risk from that flu than from swine flu. data don’t suggest that the seasonal flu vaccine has any impact on the likelihood of getting H1N1, Dr. A similar approach in delaying seasonal flu vaccinations has been adopted by Quebec, which will hold off seasonal shots until January, !–more– as well as by Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia. The province plans to offer swine flu shots starting in November, or earlier if deemed necessary. But New Brunswick hopes to complete its seasonal vaccination program by mid-October, instead of offering the shots in November as in previous years. Theoretically, antibodies created by the immune system after exposure to bacteria or a virus can facilitate the entry of another strain of the virus or disease. Dr. Newfoundland and Labrador has recommended the seasonal flu shot be given out starting in October to anyone over the age of 65, residents of long-term care homes and adults and children with chronic heart or lung disease. Donald Low, chief microbiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. The antiviral drug Tamiflu shouldn’t be used to prevent H1N1 infection in people exposed to the virus but not sickened by it, WHO says. 8 million doses will be offered to pregnant women and children under the age of three, since there is little clinical data on the safety and effectiveness of the adjuvant in those two groups. Centers for Disease Control said Friday his agency would love to see Canadian data that appear to link getting a seasonal flu shot with catching swine flu. David Butler-Jones, Canada’s chief public health officer, said people should follow vaccination advice from their provincial and territorial medical officers of health. Other provinces and territories haven’t formally announced their flu shot plans yet. I’m not worried about the seasonal vaccine, he told reporters. He has ordered his own scientists to review the findings. Seasonal flu vaccinations for people younger than 65 — but only after the H1N1 shots have been given. 12. A wider swine flu vaccination campaign for the rest of the population starting in November, when a vaccine becomes available against the H1N1 influenza A virus, the swine flu strain that has been spreading worldwide since April. As of Thursday, there were 78 deaths in Canada among people with confirmed H1N1, up by two since Sept. About 1. There were also 15 people in hospital and three admissions to intensive-care units in that time, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq told reporters. Provinces and territories appear to have no standard approach to flu vaccinations as they examine preliminary research suggesting people who have had seasonal flu shots might be at greater risk of catching swine flu. The research has not yet been peer-reviewed or published. Meanwhile, the CDC is recommending that vaccinations for both seasonal and H1N1 flu go ahead as quickly as possible. S. The effect has been seen for other viral vaccinations but never for influenza, said Dr. Thomas Frieden said. Butler-Jones noted that the Canadian government has purchased 600,000 more doses of H1N1 vaccine that does not include an adjuvant, a substance used to boost immune response. I think it’s a reason that it would be great to have a national policy on this because we’re now hearing messages from different provinces about different approaches to this issue with these new results that have come out, Low said Friday. Most provinces and territories have been reviewing their vaccination plans since Canadian researchers found people who had received the seasonal flu vaccine in the past were twice as likely to get the H1N1 virus. U. That is also going to confuse individuals, especially since the research finds are confusing to doctors and medical researchers as well, he said. S. The head of the U. Other provinces, including British Columbia, are also considering it.

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p If I knew that it was a risk to get H1N1, I wouldn’t get any of them, she told CBC News. Dengue fever is one example, Low said. Researchers know that, theoretically, when people are exposed to bacteria or a virus, it can stimulate the immune system to create antibodies that facilitate the entry of another strain of the virus. You have a baby, you sort of want to protect them from everything possible. Preliminary research suggests the seasonal !–more– flu shot may put people at greater risk for getting swine flu, CBC News has learned. It hasn’t been validated yet, it’s very preliminary, cautioned Dr. Across Canada, public health authorities are fiercely debating the idea of shortening, delaying or scrapping their seasonal flu vaccination campaign in favour of mass inoculation against H1N1. I would just be as I am and just, you know, take all the precautions I possibly can for flus, and that’s it. Michael Gardam, director of infectious diseases prevention and control at the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion. Across Canada, public health authorities are debating the idea of shortening, delaying or scrapping their seasonal flu vaccination campaign in favour of mass inoculation against H1N1. This is some evidence that has been floated. The Public Health Agency of Canada says it’s up to provinces and territories to decide on when to roll out flu shots. David Scheifele, director of the vaccine evaluation centre at B. Don Low, microbiologist-in-chief at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. Cass said. Seasonal flu could also appear after Christmas, said Dr. No seasonal flu shot? The latest finding raises questions about the order in which to get flu shots. The main reason is that H1N1 may be the dominant strain of influenza circulating when the fall flu season hits, meaning it could be a waste of time and resources to mount a seasonal flu vaccine campaign.
It’s important to validate the information to make sure it’s not just a fluke, and that the observation is confirmed elsewhere such as in the Southern Hemisphere, which just completed its seasonal flu season, Low added. But this year, she may not get any shots. C. Researchers found people who had received the seasonal flu vaccine in the past were more likely to get sick with the H1N1 virus. This is obviously important data to help guide policy decisions. In Thornhill, Ont. How can we best protect people against influenza? Health authorities in Quebec are considering cancelling or postponing seasonal flu shots for some groups, such as healthy, younger adults. So if you can protect them from some things, why not? Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. We don’t know with this year’s flu shot how it interacts with the pandemic flu shot, so it’s a worry, said Dr. , Melissa Cass, who usually gets an annual flu shot to protect herself, had been planning to get one this year for her one-year-old daughter, Aliya, as well. Four Canadian studies involved about 2,000 people in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta, sources told CBC News.

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Half-dose flu shots may be just as effective as a full dose in people under age 50 who have been previously vaccinated, a U.S. study has found.
The findings — published Monday in Archives of Internal Medicine — suggest that in times of vaccine shortage, public health officials may consider giving only half doses to healthy young adults.
Dr. Renata Engler of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and colleagues conducted a (more…)