# 4966
The annual influenza news conference by the NFID (National Foundation for Infectious Diseases) has just concluded at the Washington Press club, with presentations by some names that are surely familiar to many of my readers.
William Schaffner, MD, President, National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID); Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Daniel Jernigan, MD, MPH, Deputy Director, CDC Influenza Division
Judith S. Palfrey, MD, FAAP, Immediate Past-President, American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
Stephan L. Foster, Pharm.D, American Pharmacists Association, (APhA)
In addition to short presentations on the importance of yearly flu vaccination, and a Q&A session, this news conference also distributed roughly 2 dozen handouts on influenza, pneumococcal disease, and vaccinations to the press.
This year, everyone over the age of 6 months is being encouraged to get the flu vaccine, and more seasonal vaccine is available this year than any year in the past.
Dr. Dan Jernigan made special mention of the H3N2 virus that has been circulating around the world over the past few months, and reminded reporters that years when H3N2 was the dominate strain tended to see more severe cases.
In a limited survey, 92 percent of physicians stated they discuss the vaccine with their patients and 95% said they plan to get vaccinated themselves (numbers that are, admittedly, higher than I’ve seen published in the past).
• More than 5 percent of physicians had already been vaccinated when the survey was fielded on
September 15, 2010; 90 percent more said they are likely to get vaccinated this season
• A small percentage (3 percent) remains uncertain; less than 2 percent definitively stated they would not get the vaccine this season
Dr. William Schaffner stressed the personal and ethical responsibility for health care workers to voluntarily get vaccinated.
Cheryl Matheis, senior vice president for health strategy at AARP, stressed the need for older adults and seniors to get the pneumococcal vaccine.
Some excerpts from the Understanding Pneumococcal Disease handout include:
Pneumococcal disease is a serious infection caused by bacteria called Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Pneumococcal bacteria can cause different illnesses depending on which area of the body they invade,
including:
• Pneumonia — infection in the lungs
• Meningitis — infection in the covering of the brain
• Bacteremia — infection in the bloodstream• There were 43,500 cases of invasive pneumococcal disease (bacteremia, meningitis) in 2009, resulting in 5,000 deaths.
You can expect a fair amount of media coverage over the next few days coming out of this news conference, as this year’s flu vaccination campaign moves into full swing.
I got my flu shot a month ago, and hopefully by now have grown a healthy set of antibodies to all three strains of flu expected this year.
If you haven’t gotten yours yet, supplies are ample and with practically every chain pharmacy and grocery store offering shots, finding a vendor has never been easier.
