WHO wants Fujian too
The GENEVA buenosairesherald.com -February 20, 2004
The United Nations health agency is recommending that a vaccine against the Fujian strain of influenza be included in inoculations next winter.
In its recommendations for the composition of the vaccine for the northern hemisphere in 2004-2005, the World Health Organization has added Fujian to the New Caledonia and Shanghai strains.
“We tried last year to insert the Fujian strain as part of the vaccine, but we were not able to get a vaccine-quality stock available in time, so it was left out. This year we’ve got it,” WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said on Wednesday.
“Our surveillance tells us that Fujian is going to be important.”
Fujian influenza has been the predominant strain in the United States this season. It is named for Fujian Province, China.
The effectiveness of this year’s vaccine against the flu virus has been a matter of great concern among health authorities in the United States.
Each year’s flu vaccine is formulated months in advance, based on those strains that scientists believe will be going around. When scientists guess correctly, the vaccine can be more than 80 percent effective at protecting people from the flu.