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In an effort to conserve on a shortage of vaccine doses,
health officials asked doctors to further reduce the number
of vaccines given to infants to protect them against meningitis
and deadly blood infections. Doctors were reluctantly recommended
to cut back their doses of the vaccine, Prevnar, to two doses
per child until the supplies are replenished.
This action is estimated to save more than 1 million doses
by July 2004, making widespread disruptions less likely. Wyeth,
the sole manufacturer of Prevnar, a vaccine that protects
against several pneumococcal bacteria, has had problems with
supplies of the vaccine for two years.
Children should normally get their first shot of Prevnar
at two months, another at four months, the third at six months
and the last somewhere between 12 and 15 months, so this recommendation
will suspend the third and fourth dosages.
Children with high-risk health conditions such as sickle
cell anemia or immune system disorders should continue to
receive their complete four-dose series.
Before the vaccine for pnemococal infections became available,
there were more than 700 cases of meningitis, 13,000 blood
infections and approximately 5 million ear infections among
U.S. children and 200 were killed a year. Health officials
said that the infections became less common among adults and
children in the United States after the Prevnar vaccine was
approved in 2000 for infants.
According to data, the number of cases of the disease in
adults aged 50 and older dropped 25 percent to 29 per 100,000
in 2002 from 41 cases per 100,000 reported in 1998-1999.
Yahoo!
News March 2, 2004
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