Practice Alert

Flu season’s almost here: Are you ready?

This year, a single vaccine includes the 2009 H1N1 and 2 other strains and most of your patients will need only 1 dose. The public health goal: Immunize everyone without a contraindication.

Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Phoenix
dougco@u.arizona.edu

Influenza pandemics like the one we had last year are uncommon, and mounting an effective response was a difficult challenge. The pandemic hit early and hard. Physicians and the public health system responded well, administering a seasonal flu vaccine as well as a new H1N1 vaccine that was approved, produced, and distributed in record time. Before the end of the season, approximately 30% of the population had received an H1N1 vaccine and 40% a seasonal vaccine.¹