2009 – 2010 Seasonal Influenza Vaccine approved by FDA

The US FDA has reported seasonal influenza vaccine approval for 2009 and 2010.

Although the vaccine does not protect citizens against the H1N1 influenza vaccine (the recent influenza that has been publicized by the World Health Organization as a pandemic), the FDA continues to work with manufacturers , government officials and international relations to advance the availability of a safe and accessible vaccine to fight the H1N1 influenza virus.

Margaret A. Hamburg, commissioner of Food and Drugs supports “the approval of this year’s influenza vaccine [as] an example of the FDA’s important responsibility to assure timely availability of [the] vaccine to help protect the health of the American public.”

The six brand names and manufacturers that will be representing the vaccine are: Afluria, CSL Limited; Fluraix, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals; FluLaval. ID Biomedical Corporation; Fluvirin, Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Ltd.; Fluzone, Sanofi pasteur Inc.; and FluMist, Medimmune Vaccines Inc.

The CDC estimates that 5 – 20% of the US population succumbs to influenza each year.  More than 200,000 people become hospitalized due to its effects, and roughly 36,000 lose their lives to the virus.