Weekly Flu Report: January 7, 2010

Weekly Report: Download Weekly Report 01_07_10 (Download PDF Weekly Report 1_07_10)

We hope that everyone had a healthy and happy New Year. As you can see in this week's report, there appears to be a slight increase of flu-like illness in the state, however, the number of sites reporting this week was lower than usual so this data should be interpreted with caution. Nevertheless, there is still a chance of another wave of flu this season this so we continue to encourage all residents to get the H1N1 vaccine. You can find a clinic near you on www.mass.gov/flu.

Comments

[Jeff Booth]

The pharmacuetical company Novartis only produces H1N1 vaccines with mercury in them. Both their single dose or multiple dose H1N1 vaccinations have at least trace amounts of mercury in them. Two other FDA-approved pharmacuetical companies, Sanofi Pasteur and CSL Limited, produce H1N1 single dose syringe vaccines with no mercury at all in them. Where can my wife, who is pregnant, get a truly mercury free H1N1 vaccine, i.e. one produced by either Sanofi Pasteur or CSL Limited? ----------DPH RESPONDS: Thank you for your question. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide information about which formulations are being sent to providers. However, we have now received and distributed well over 3.5 million doses of vaccine in the state, some of which is thimerosal free, so I would suggest reaching out directly to clinics near you to see what formulations they have available. You can search for clinics by zip code at http://flu.masspro.org.

[Jeannette Perkins RN]

Are you considering revising the recommendation to restrict children 18 yo or younger from hospital visitations? -----------DPH RESPONDS: Thank you for your question. While our visitation policy did recommend that hospitals limit visitors for patients in isolation for influenza to persons who are necessary for the patient's emotional well-being and care, we left it up to the hospital to interpret this and decide this level of detail.