Category: Swine Flu: The Vaccine Question

JGrimes
That picture at the right may look like a high-school cafeteria, but it’s actually a state-of-the-art flu-vaccine manufacturing facility. Which says something about the state of vaccine manufacturing.
Despite a broad push by government and industry to come up with faster ways to make flu vaccines, most are still made by a decades-old technique […]

JGrimes
This live blog will track developments throughout Thursday related to swine flu, from The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswires and other news services. For more coverage of the flu, see the WSJ.com Swine Flu page and the WSJ.com Health Blog. Also, see yesterday’s live blog and track human cases of swine flu […]

JGrimes
“The biggest question right now is this: How severe will the pandemic be?”
That’s how the head of the WHO boiled it down today as the WHO raised the pandemic-alert level to Phase 5, signaling that a pandemic is imminent.
Officially, Phase 5 means that more than one country in a single WHO region has […]

JGrimes
Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, is giving an update on the swine flu. Here’s what she’s saying.
4:07 WHO is raising the pandemic alert level from phase 4 to phase 5.
4:09 “New diseases, by definition are poorly understood.” Influenza viruses are notorious for unpredictable behavior.
4:10 “All countries should immediately now activate their pandemic preparedness plans,” […]

JGrimes
Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, is giving an update on the swine flu. Here’s what she’s saying.
4:07 WHO is raising the pandemic alert level from phase 4 to phase 5. Phase 5 means a pandemic is imminent.
4:09 “New diseases, by definition are poorly understood.” Influenza viruses are notorious for unpredictable behavior.
4:10 “All countries should […]

JGrimes
Not surprisingly, pork companies aren’t so keen on the term “swine flu.”
It’s true that you can’t get swine flu from eating cooked pork, and the disease is now passing from human to human. But the virus’s genetic signature does suggest that it originated in pigs.
President Obama and other federal officials this morning referred […]

JGrimes
A 5-year-old boy in Mexico is at the center of detective work around the question of who was the first human to come down with swine flu.
Édgar Hernández, pictured, has a winning demeanor: He’s described in news accounts as a playful boy with quite a grin. But his mother is worried about the […]

JGrimes
AP/White House
Sebelius is briefed on swine flu in the Situation Room after her swearing in Tuesday.
The Department of Health and Human Services finally has a leader, Kathleen Sebelius.
With her confirmation by the Senate yesterday, in a 65-31 vote, Sebelius fills the final open post in President Barack Obama’s cabinet. There were plenty of […]

Sarah Rubenstein
This live blog will track developments throughout Wednesday related to swine flu, from The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswires and other news services. For more coverage of the flu, see the WSJ.com Swine Flu page and the WSJ.com Health Blog. Also, see yesterday’s live blog and track human cases of swine […]

JGrimes
The CDC this morning updated the number of U.S. cases to 64, driven largely by more confirmed cases from that New York City school outbreak. Richard Besser (pictured), the CDC’s acting director, is giving today’s daily media update on swine flu. Here’s what he’s saying.
2:44 Cases have been confirmed in New York, Ohio, […]