Word: dosings
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...latest study of an Australian H1N1 vaccine, a shot that is also distributed in the U.S., shows that a single dose containing the same amount of viral protein as two doses combined, can produce enough flu-fighting antibodies in nearly 93% of youngsters immunized. "The single-dose response is substantially better than responses to seasonal flu vaccines of past years," says Terry Nolan of the University of Melbourne, the lead author of the study. That's good news for parents and public health officials, particularly in light of the fact that about half of U.S. children never get their second...
...study, which involved 370 healthy children ages six months to nine years in Australia, researchers immunized half of the group with two doses of vaccine, each containing 15 micrograms (mcg) of the virus antigen. The other half received two doses containing 30 mcg of the antigen each. In both cases, the second dose was given 21 days after the first. The researchers found that 21 days after receiving only one shot, 92.5% of children in the 15-mcg-dose group and 98% of those receiving the higher dose had generated sufficient antibodies against H1N1...
...results suggest that one shot of the lower-dose vaccine may generate just as many flu antibodies as the two shots U.S. children currently receive, each containing 7.5 mcg of viral antigen. The findings could factor into discussions that health officials have as they make up recommendations for next year's flu season. Having children get immunized only once, rather than twice, may help increase the percentage of kids who are protected against influenza...
...until then, neither Nolan nor officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are ready to ditch the second dose. For one thing, they note, the level of antibodies does not always translate to actual protection against the flu. "Lab studies are a proxy and work well," says Dr. Anthony Fiore, at the CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. "But until you can show that a single dose is as effective as two, it's probably too soon to pull away from...
...cautious about the Australian data, says Fiore, is that the youngsters in the study were all healthy, with normal immune systems. But those who are most vulnerable to influenza are children with underlying conditions such as asthma or diabetes, who may need the added boost from a second dose to protect them from complications of the flu. He notes also that previous studies of other H1N1 vaccines showed slightly weaker antibody responses in children after a single dose than the Australian shot, which suggests one dose may not be enough to effectively combat influenza in youngsters...