School starts in about one month, depending on the schedule where you live.

The pandemic flu (H1N1) hits kids harder. Kids also are the ones who can bring it home to young adult parents, who also may be hit harder than their elders.

That’s why the race is on for a vaccine which can be produced and given in time to slow down this pandemic.

Wall Street Journal

“U.S. Officials Call for FDA to Move on Vaccine Without Data from Clinical Trials; U.K. Sets Up Hotline as New Cases Double”

…”In the U.S., a federal advisory panel said the FDA should move ahead to approve or license the new H1N1 vaccine without waiting to receive data from clinical trials to test its safety and efficacy. The government and vaccine makers plan to start human studies of the H1N1 vaccine in the U.S. in the coming weeks, but the first-look data from those studies won’t be given to the FDA until September. (Emphasis added)

“Each year the FDA approves seasonal vaccines based on strain changes without new human studies. The agency does test the vaccines for potency and also monitors vaccine safety on a continuous basis. (Emphasis added)

“I think this is an entirely appropriate way of proceeding and in the public health’s best interest considering that schools will be opening in a month,” said John Modlin, the panel chair and a professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.”

Children, the story says, will be given priority because this strain hits younger people harder.

…”The new H1N1 shots would be for a vaccination campaign that potentially would be targeted first at school-age children, who along with young adults have been hit hard by the new flu strain. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine advisory panel will meet next week to make recommendations about such a vaccination campaign.”

Source: Wall Street Journal, July 24, 2009