Flu Vaccine, Flu Season | featured news

Amid the most severe influenza season in more than a decade, federal health officials on Wednesday approved a next-generation, insect-based flu vaccine that sidesteps the thorniest parts of production -- and will be used immediately in people willing to test it.

With the nation in the grip of a severe influenza outbreak that has seen deaths reach epidemic levels, New York State declared a public health emergency on Saturday, making access to vaccines more easily available.

As the country's flu outbreak becomes an epidemic, odds are that you've had a few sheepish feelings about not doing something you probably should have: Gotten a flu shot. As of this November, the majority of American adults 64.8 percent, to be exact had not received a flu immunization. This wasn't a surprise to researchers: Flu is a disease with one of the lowest vaccination rates.

The first flu shot that works with a less-scary skin prick instead of an inch-long needle is hitting the market this fall.

Vaccine makers said this month they plan to make a record amount of flu vaccine for this fall and winter enough for more than half the population.

Fewer vaccinations impact drugstore chain's second-quarter results, which fall short of estimates.

For 13-year-old Brandon Marti, the intranasal vaccine felt "good," "cold" and "watery" at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx, New York, on Tuesday.

The nation's secretary of health and human services told government leaders at a swine-flu preparedness summit Thursday that a vaccine to fight the H1N1 virus should be ready for distribution in mid-October.