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Nov 4, 2009 6:09 pm US/Eastern
CDC Ramps Up War On H1N1 Virus
ATLANTA (CBS4) ―
In an effort to help protect families against the H1N1 flu virus the Centers for Disease Control has 16 hundred workers dedicated to gathering information on the virus.
Meanwhile the H1N1 vaccine continues to be shipped out to the states as fast as it can be made. At a briefing Wednesday morning to members of Congress the heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes for Health said even though more of the vaccine is being manufactured, many of the people who really need it aren't going to be vaccinated because they fear that it is not safe.
CDC Director Thomas Frieden told members of Congress the vaccine is an effective treatment and since H1N1 is hitting a different population than seasonal flu, younger children and those with underlying conditions such as asthma or diabetes should be vaccinated.
He added that although there were some difficulties getting the vaccine to Americans in early fall, manufacturers are turning it out quickly now.
Anthony Fauci who heads the NIH says the H1N1 vaccine is safe.
He says the medicine is closely based on the seasonal flu shot and safety shouldn't be a factor for not getting the vaccine.
"We said in September there would be bumps in undertaking this effort and indeed that is the case, but we're working very hard with our partners throughout the US government and most importantly relying on state, local, tribal health departments, health care institutions and the public to address this as a shared responsibility," said Fauci.
Specimens from hospitalized patients across the nation and elsewhere are sent to the CDC lab to be examined. Researchers check to see if the virus is changing or becoming more severe which would require a change in strategy. No one knows how long the war on the H1N1 virus will take, but the list of wounded is different that with other flues. With the H1N1 virus, 90 percent of the deaths occur with people under 65 years of age; more than half of the hospitalizations are people 25 years of age or younger.
Since there have been shortages of the liquid Tamiflu for children, the CDC has announced that it will release the last of it from the national stockpile. So far, 114 children have died from the H1N1 virus.
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