Last winter, there I was strolling down the hall during my annual ritual of ASHP (American Society of Health System Pharmacists) conference when I received a frantic call. It was the pharmacist I left in charge calling me to let me know that we had run out of flu vaccine and we were unable to get anymore. How can that be I told myself, I ordered enough doses to inoculate a small village. Come to find out that one of the manufacturer of flu vaccine Chiron was found unsuitable by the FDA and could not ship their vaccine to the United States.

You guess it! Whenever something is in short supply, it becomes a hot commodity. Suddenly people that we were begging to get their flu shot in November were threatening us now in December. Board members were throwing their weight around and the physicians were threatening not to admit any of their patients to our hospital unless we became a manufacturer and made the flu vaccine ourselves. Then the shark started smelling blood. The shady distributors increased their price by more than 500 percent. One such company had the nerve to ask for $1,500 for a vial containing 10 doses of flu vaccine. The normal price of a vial of flu vaccine is around $150-$200 dollars. The media started reporting that flu vaccine were in short supply and that children has started to die as a result. People were forming lines a mile long to obtain this miracle drug.

Then came spring without the catastrophe predicted, and many people breathe a sigh of relief. Every year we seem to have a shortage of flu vaccine. So here is a little background on the flu and how it is made.

The process to make the flu vaccine is very complicated and involves the FDA and the World Health Organization to decide which strains of flu will come to the United States and which strains will be the most virulent. That process can take up to a year to complete. Once that process is decided then the manufacturers can go about manufacturing the vaccine which is made by injecting chicken eggs with the chosen strains and retrieving it later for use. The flu vaccine this year has these strains: The Caledonia strain, the California strain and the Shanghai strain. This means that there might be a strain out there in your community that is not included in the flu vaccine for this season and if you get that strain, the flu vaccine will not protect you. There are but two manufacturers of flu vaccine for the United States, Chiron and Sanofi-Aventis. Recently, the FDA has approved Glaxo Smith Kline to market their flu vaccine in the United States bringing the total of available sources of flu vaccine to three.

Do you need to take your flu shot this year?

It depends on whether you are in the following categories: People that are at most risk of getting the flu, such as children, patients with chronic illness such as diabetes, healthcare workers that come in contact with patients that may be infected.

People at risk of serious side effects if they get infected with the flu, consider the elderly, pregnant women, patients with chronic illnesses, persons that that take care of children less than 6 months old.

Healthy person age 2 to 65.

If you fall in the last category, you may not need to take the flu vaccine. There are certain precautions

First thing first, Wash your hands often. Washing your hands each time you come in contact with another person will prevent you from getting the coodies. Unfortunately, in this busy life, you cannot run to the bathroom after every encounter; therefore, you should carry a hand sanitizer and use it often.

Become a clean freak and start wiping down everything such as doorknobs, surfaces etc… with a 1:10 dilution of bleach (1 cup of bleach in 10 cups of water).

Our best intentions cannot protect us 100 percent from contracting the flu. Once you get the flu, here are a couple of things that you can do to alleviate the symptoms:

Rest. That is the most beneficial thing during a flu is to rest and give our bodies time to recover

Drink plenty of fluids. During the flu, we get depleted of valuable fluids and may get dehydrated, especially if there is vomiting and fever involved.

Elderberry (sambucus nigra) seems to reduce the symptoms and duration of influenza infection when taken within 48 hours of initial symptoms. People experience significant symptom relief within 2 to 4 days of treatment for most patients. Products containing Elderberry includes Cold Care PM tea by Traditional Medicinals and the entire Sambucol line by Nature’s way.

Stay away from people who are sick or if you are sick yourself, stay away from other people.

Oscillococcinum, if you already have the flu. Clinical trials have shown that when taken at the first sign of flu, 63 percent of Oscillo users showed clear improvement within 48 hours.

My personal favorite recipe which may not have any basis in real scientific study is one cup of elderberry tea, 20 ml of rum, half a lemon squeezed and honey to taste. It may not cure any flu, but it sure makes you feel better or mellow after. Besides, this concoction knocks me out and I wake fresh and ready because I rested so well.

As you can see there are many ways one can beat the flu naturally. My personal advice is to take the flu shot if you fall in the two first categories above, but if you are healthy take the steps necessary to prevent the flu. Also remember that not all flu-like symptoms mean that you are having the flu. Some symptoms are just our bodies’ way trying to tell us to REST.

For more information about the flu vaccine and influenza in general, visit the CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov/flu

Marie-Elsie Ade is a Pharmacist with a B.S from Long Island University in New York and a PharmD from Nova Southeastern University in Florida. She is a licensed pharmacist as well as a licensed consultant pharmacist (Florida license PS29264 and PU4703). She works for one of the premier health systems in South Florida. She has lectured on various topics at senior citizen centers, women’s groups and community fairs about generic drugs, herbal medications and drug interactions and the use of pharmaceuticals in general. She believes that natural health and modern medicines can be complementary and has set out to inform patients about the effects of their prescriptions medications and their natural health or herbals products. You may find more information about Marie-Elsie Ade at http://www.thenaturalhealingplace.com

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