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The Centers for Disease Control made a three-network sweep with its guidelines for influenza vaccinations this fall. Only 200m shots against the H1N1 strain of swine 'flu are likely to be available in October and November so the entire population will not be covered. NBC and ABC led from Atlanta where the CDC meeting designated which demographics will qualify; CBS covered the CDC remotely from New York. Influenza was the Story of the Day. ABC used Elizabeth Vargas as its substitute anchor.

ABC's Lisa Stark saw the CDC deciding to "paint with a broad brush" as it named seven groups to get shots, accounting for 160m people, just over half the population. Eligible will be pregnant women, healthcare workers, infant care providers, children and toddlers over six months of age, teenagers, adults with underlying health problems, and "in a surprise move" healthy college-aged twentysomethings. Stark warned that there may not be enough vaccine for all those groups to be covered if next month's clinical trials find that booster shots are required--except that in a normal 'flu season only 40% of those eligible receive shots anyway. NBC's Robert Bazell reminded us that it is 'flu season right now in the southern hemisphere. Vaccine trials are under way in Australia and Argentina is facing a shortage of intensive care hospital beds and ventilators.

CBS missed out on covering the dangers of H1N1 to pregnant women that ABC's Stark and NBC's Bazell covered Tuesday, so most of in-house physician Jennifer Ashton's report on the CDC vaccine guidelines played catch-up, focusing on the pregnancy angle. She cited expert opinion that pregnant women should be given an anti-viral medication such as Tamiflu immediately symptoms appear, even before testing positive for the actual virus. ABC's in-house physician Timothy Johnson (at the tail of the Stark videostream) pointed out that "there are other strategies to prevent getting the 'flu" besides shots. Try "washing hands, avoiding coughing and sneezing."

NBC anchor Brian Williams consulted Dr Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health about the prospects for a disease-ridden fall. Fauci conceded that "this virus spreads very efficiently among humans" but then reassured us that 'right now it is acting like a mild-to-moderate 'flu that you would see during a regular 'flu season." What worries Fauci is if the virus grows virulent.

Andrew Tyndall 7/31/09 8:58:26 pm

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