♦ Recent news
♦ AHCJ resources
- Presentations from CDC's 2010 Influenza Workshop for Journalists
- Stories written from the workshop
- Tip sheets
- Articles and blog posts
♦ Journals
♦ Government resources
♦ Additional resources
♦ What's next
The Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control are ramping up the campaign for flu vaccinations.
On Tuesday, a webcast about the flu season featured HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius; Howard Koh, M.D., M.P.H., HHS assistant secretary for health; and Anne Schuchat, M.D., director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease. Schuchat, in a blog post, reminds us that this year, the CDC recommends that everyone older than 6 months get vaccinated.
The CDC's first weekly influenza surveillance report of the 2010-11 season will be published on Oct. 15.
You might remember that H1N1 seemed to hit pregnant woman especially hard during the last flu season. So HHS joined with a number of medical organizations for a letter to pregnant women explaining that getting vaccinated is “safe during any trimester” and can protect women and their babies from the flu.
Recent news
- BARDA grants help build global flu vaccine manufacturing capacity
- VAERS study finds H1N1 vaccine safety similar to seasonal vaccines' | study abstract
- The flu: It’s about variance: Rebecca Goldin Ph.D, of Statistical Assessment Service (STATS) looks at how the media has reported statistics on flu deaths.
- Swine flu no longer a major threat to USA
- Some are leery of this year's flu shots
- Pediatricians will join call for mandatory flu shots
- Pandemic over, it's a normal flu season: Plenty of vaccine should be available
AHCJ resources
2010 Influenza Workshop for Journalists
AHCJ sponsored 14 journalists to take part in a two-day workshop in August 2010 at the CDC about covering influenza. The workshop included a series of on-the-record sessions with CDC experts to prepare front-line journalists for the upcoming flu season. Public health experts provided a primer on the flu, examined how it is being tracked, expectations for vaccines and antivirals, and what communities can do to deal with the fallout. Here are the speakers' presentations from that workshop:
The Life of a Flu Virus – virology, origins of viruses, how they circulate, how they change
• Nancy Cox, Ph.D., director, Influenza Division [Presentation]
How CDC Tracks Influenza
• Dan Jernigan, M.D., deputy director, Influenza Division [Presentation]
Reports from the Lab
• Michael Shaw, Ph.D., associate director for Laboratory Science, Influenza Division [Presentation]
Influenza Education and Outreach
• Kris Sheedy, Ph.D., associate director for communication science, National Center for Immunization & Respiratory Diseases [Presentation]
Vaccine Update – Panel with NIH and FDA
• NIH: Linda Lambert, Ph.D., chief, Respiratory Diseases Branch, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases [Presentation]
• FDA: Lorrie Harrison McNeill, director, Office of Communication, Outreach and Development, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research [Presentation]
Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness and Safety
• David Shay, M.D., medical officer, NCIRD [Presentation]
• Karen Broder, M.D., medical officer, Immunization Safety Office [Presentation]
Stories based on the CDC workshop
- Flu shot season has arrived and this year, just one shot is needed; Sandy Kleffman, Contra Costa Times
- Flu vaccine no longer just for “high risk” groups, Dana Clark Felty, Savannah (Ga.) Morning News
- CDC: Flu vaccine development needs to improve | H3N2 flu virus targets seniors, Valerie Lego, health reporter, WZZM-Grand Rapids, Mich.
- H1N1 shot proved safe | Flu vaccine advised for all older than 6 months | CDC reviews, prepares for flu season, Tom Corwin, The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle
- Older Folks Are At Risk This Year for Flu, By Olivier Uyttebrouck, Albuquerque Journal
- Onset of flu season prompts vaccine push, Joe Goldeen, The (Stockton, Calif.) Record
Tip sheets
- Avian and pandemic influenza tip sheet
- Resources for covering H1N1 flu, pandemics and preparedness
- Avian & pandemic flu resources
- The Next Big (Health) Crisis – And How to Cover It
- Avian flu: A focus on the science
- Press lessons from the 1918 pandemic flu
- Books about influenza
Articles and blog posts
- What did the U.S. learn from the H1N1 pandemic?
- FOI request for H1N1 documents still pending
- Fluportal.org: Postmortem of a temporary resource
- GAO: Flu-fighting plan needs better measures
- The 6-foot rule, masks and flu transmission
- CoveringFlu.org and other resources for journalists covering flu
- Bioethicist: Health workers must get H1N1 vaccine
- Will pharmacists play a role in H1N1 vaccinations?
- OIG: Are we ready for a flu pandemic?
- Avian flu still a danger, CDC official tells fellows
Covering Medical Research
This guide will help journalists analyze and write about health and medical research studies. It offers advice on recognizing and reporting the problems, limitations and backstory of a study, as well as publication biases in medical journals and it includes 10 questions you should answer to produce a meaningful and appropriately skeptical report. We hope this guide, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will be a road map to help you do a better job of explaining research results for your audience.
Chapters deal with the hierarchy of evidence, putting types of research into context, scrutinizing the quality of evidence, phases of clinical trials, explaining risk, embargoes, pitfalls of news from scientific meetings, criteria for judging your story and more. The guide links to online resources throughout.
Journals
Journal of the American Medical Association and Archives (free access to AHCJ members)
Cochrane Library's Database of Systematic Reviews (free access to AHCJ members)
- Interventions to increase influenza vaccination rates of those 60 years and older in the community
- Influenza vaccination for healthcare workers who work with the elderly
- Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy adults
- More articles like this
Annual Reviews journals (free access to AHCJ members)
American Journal of Public Health (free access to AHCJ members)
- Effects of an Ongoing Epidemic on the Annual Influenza Vaccination Rate and Vaccination Timing Among the Medicare Elderly: 2000-2005
- Pandemic Influenza and Jail Facilities and Populations
- A Primer on Strategies for Prevention and Control of Seasonal and Pandemic Influenza
Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal
Preventing Chronic Disease Journal
Vaccine: Journal for those interested in vaccines and vaccination
mBio: American Society for Microbiology's open access journal.
- The 2009 H1N1 Pandemic Influenza Virus: What Next? David M. Morens, Jeffery K. Taubenberger and Anthony S. Fauci
A three-dimensional representation of a generic influenza virion’s ultrastructure.
(Image courtesy of CDC.)
Government resources
CDC's seasonal influenza resources
- Prevention Strategies for Seasonal Influenza in Healthcare Settings
- Final report on 2009-10 influenza season
- Stats and data on H1N1 in the United States in 2009
World Health Organization's influenza resources
WHO recommendations on 2009–10 influenza vaccines (PDF)
FluNet: Web-based data collection and reporting tool of the Global Influenza Surveillance Network. Data reports, including tables, maps and graphs, are available to public users.
United States health departments
Additional resources
Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy: CIDRAP regularly posts "Latest News" on its home page about flu, vaccines and other infectious disease news. It includes links to its sources. Some recent examples:
- Flu makes late-season statement in parts of Southern Hemisphere
- Australia finds slightly higher kids' seizure rates for pandemic H1N1 vaccine
Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
- Directory of state and territorial health officials
- Information on infectious diseases, with contact information for staff specializing in that area.
American Public Health Association
What's next
Sebelius envisions cell-based flu vaccine in 2011: In testimony for a Senate committee hearing on Sept. 29 about "Defending Against Public Health Threats," U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius mentioned a new cell-based influenza vaccine manufacturing facility in North Carolina.. Webcast of the hearing | Sebelius' prepared testimony (PDF)
Future Uncertain for H1N1 Flu Virus: Researchers speculate that the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza virus will likely disappear unless it mutates to avoid high global immunity.
Improving Responses To Future Influenza Pandemics: An evaluation of the response to the 2009 pandemic from the perspective of vaccine manufacturers.
