Julie Gerberding
Julie Gerberding
Julie Louise Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H., is an American infectious disease expert and the former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventionand administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry...
beginning doses flu goal million people predict season serious speeds vaccine whether year
Well, we're just at the beginning of the flu season, so we can't predict whether this is going to be a serious year or not, ... We have 20 million more doses of flu vaccine to get out there, and our goal is to get those doses to the people who need it the most before the season really speeds up.
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We're watching the situation with the avian flu very carefully, taking the steps that need to be taken now to help prepare and, most importantly, detect the transfer of that virus into people, ... But it is a very worrisome situation.
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When you start getting the flu it's hard to distinguish it from any other upper respiratory infections so most people don't realize they have flu until past the 48 hour window.
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We want the flu shot in their arms first.
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Fortunately, this year the flu season is not off to an early start, and there is plenty of time for people to get their shots,
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We are cautiously optimistic that at least in some parts of the country, influenza may have peaked. But there's still plenty of flu out there, and we're still encouraging people with flu-like illness who meet the criteria for concerns or complications to be sure and seek medical attention if they do develop the illness.
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We're very early in the flu season this year. We're seeing very sporadic activity in seven states, and one state with local activity, but it's way at the very early stages. So it's difficult to predict how severe the season will be, when it will take off, and when it will peak, and what ultimately the spectrum of impact will be,
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Even though we're hoping that we're past the peak for this early phase of the season, in past years we have seen flu come back, ... And we've also seen new strains emerge late in the season. So it's still important to be vigilant.
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It's a vulnerable population, and the last thing they need to deal with in the context of all the other difficulties is a flu outbreak.
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This year's flu season is not off to an aggressive start. We have less flu in the country than we did this time last year,
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Our impression is the demand probably has increased, but we don't have solid data yet.
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People who place large orders for vaccine tend to get preferential treatment by distributors. This is a market distribution problem that's difficult to fix from a government perspective.
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I think hospitals did what they could to be prepared but I think it is difficult to prepare for something of this scope and, particularly in New Orleans, the flooding.
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It did exist in New Orleans but they didn't have gasoline for the generators,