Seasonal flu vaccines must be updated every year because the virus changes so often. But the United States did not contribute to their information about what to spread there since January, said the World Health Organization official (WHO).
In the case of seasonal flu, which forced schools to close in some American states at the beginning of this month, the data is not available, Dr. Wenqing Zhang, head of the global flu program, told journalists on Wednesday.
USA Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Food and Medicine Agency (FDA) usually participate in global discussions conducted by WHO on influenza vaccination twice a year.
Detailed seasonal information flu is important for monitoring epidemic around the world and informing which flu strains should be included in vaccines in the northern hemisphere of the next winter.
“From January 20, CDC has not yet reported to the WHO Flunenet and Fluid platform,” Zhang said, referring to two databases for influenza supervision. From last week, the US has publicly published influenza information at national level.
When US President Donald Trump was inaugurated on January 20, he called on his country to leave WHO, from January 2026.
The WHO meeting is scheduled for the next week in London to discuss the composition of influenza vaccines. Until now, who says that the US has not indicated whether they will participate.
At the meeting, participants look at the data to achieve consensus or strains in the previous seasonal vaccine are still considered working or if they have to be updated.
Kanta Subbarao claims that the United States also brings experience in the effectiveness of vaccines and key materials used by vaccine producers.
Subbarao, a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases and influenza scientist, currently working at the Laval University at Quebec City, was the director of WHO COLLABORATING CENTER FOR INFLUENZA in Melbourne, Australia. It is one of five such centers for human flu along with the American CDC in Atlanta, England, China and Japan.
Personnel deficiencies and a sharp increase in respiratory diseases exert pressure on the Canadian ambulance, and experts call people to update vaccinations.
“I think it's a very bad time for flu vaccine,” said Subbarao.
“CDC and FDA are very actively involved in this process, so it's a bit difficult for me to understand what it will look like without them.”
Subbarao said that the American Cooperation Center often receives influenza viruses from Canada and other parts of America, as well as Africa and part of Asia.
We make a “big difference”
Dr. Keiji Fukuda, a doctor and epidemiologist who participated in the meetings of flu vaccines and worked for both WHO and CDC, said that this is crucial for American experts.
“The interpretation of this data is so important,” said Fukuda in an interview. “Hearing your peers discuss how they look at it, he can change the way you look at it, and such interactions are the way we come up with the best vaccine preparations.”
Participation in the US is crucial to be able to accurately predict which flu strains will circulate in Canada, the United States and Mexico, said Angela Rasmussen, a virus and chief scientist in organizing vaccine and infectious diseases in Saskatoon.
“Because the United States is so geographically large, because it is so populated, it really makes a big difference, which of these strains of influenza … These are those that will be dominant and basically win the race with other influenza viruses,” said Rasmussen. She studied a number of viral pathogens, including flu, and does not participate in the WHO flu vaccine meeting.
Who's Who's Gifenza The supervision program includes about 130 Member States.
CDC has published weekly seasonal information for flu on February 14, as well as an update of the H5N1 flu cases, which infected almost 70 people in the US, including death. Most of these infections were among agricultural employees exposed to infected poultry or cows.
Doctors and scientists carefully observe whether the H5N1 or other type of influenza virus gains the ability to easily spread from person to person. This caused the previous global flu pandemic.
On Wednesday, the Canadian government announced the purchase of 500,000 doses H5N1 vaccine To help protect the most endangered, such as agricultural workers and people who deal with the virus of the flu in laboratories.
Who said that his meeting of flu vaccines would continue whether the delegates will appear or not.