Health Officials Continue To Ignore Ineffectiveness of Flu Vaccines

Flu vaccine manufacturers expect to make a record number of doses for the next flu season despite concerns that demand may drop because this year's vaccine was largely ineffective.

The five companies that make flu vaccine for the U.S. market plan to make at least 143 million doses for the 2008-09 season. They made 140 million doses for the current season, the worst in four years for adult deaths from flu and pneumonia.

Part of the problem was that the vaccine didn't work against the viruses that ended up circulating.

Each year, health officials essentially make an educated guess and formulate a vaccine against three viruses.

But two of the three strains for the current season were not good matches, and the vaccine was only 44 percent effective overall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Reports on that data "probably doesn't help us going into the flu season, when people are thinking, 'It didn't really match, so how can we rely that this vaccine's OK?' " said Paul Perreault, executive vice president of CSL Biotherapies, one of the five manufacturers.

Still, the company is tripling its production to 6 million doses. The company believes that this fall's vaccination drive should be successful, due in part to aggresive education campaigns and a complete makeover of the vaccine, Perreault said.

In addition, MedImmune Vaccines Inc. plans to make about 12 million doses of FluMist. That's a nasal mist containing live virus approved for healthy people between ages 2 and 49.