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To help avoid a shortage, the FDA is letting Tamiflu's maker, Genentech, distribute 2 million additional doses of capsules that have an older version of package insert. "It is fully approved, it is not outdated," just lacks information for pharmacists on how to mix it into a liquid if needed for young children, she said. This year's flu season started about a month earlier than normal and the dominant flu strain is one that tends to make people sicker. Vaccinations are recommended for anyone 6 months or older. There's still plenty of vaccine
-- an update shows that 145 million doses have been produced, "twice the supply that was available only several years ago," Hamburg said. About 129 million doses have been distributed already, and a million doses are given each day, Frieden said. The vaccine is not perfect but "it's by far the best tool we have to prevent influenza," he said. Carlos Maisonet, 73, got a flu shot this week at New York's Brooklyn Hospital Center at the urging of his wife, who was vaccinated in August. "This is his first time getting the flu shot," said his wife, Zulma Ramos. Last week, the CDC said the flu again surpassed an "epidemic" threshold, based on monitoring of deaths from flu and a frequent complication, pneumonia. The flu epidemic happens every year, and officials say this year's vaccine is a good match for strains that are going around. ___ Online: Flu vaccine finder: http://www.flu.gov/ CDC flu info: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/index.htm
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