Content about Vaccination

HARRISBURG, Pa. — "Numerous" physicians in Pennsylvania are supporting a bill that would expand the range of immunizations that pharmacists can provide, a state pharmacy group said Thursday.

The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association said doctors around the state were urging legislators to support House Bill 776 in letters to the House Professional Licensure Committee, urging that members support the bill and vote it out of committee soon. The bill would expand the immunizations pharmacists can provide to children older than 7 years.

NEW YORK — Electronic health platform Fitango is creating a three-part action plan to support childhood immunizations, the company said Monday.

Fitango announced the release of its new series of Preventative Actionplans, broken up according to age, respectively titled "Tracking Your Child's Vaccinations (0 - 2)," "Tracking Your Child's Vaccinations (4 - 6)" and "Tracking Your Child's Vaccinations (7 - 18)."

BOULDER, Colo. — Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy on Thursday expanded its immunization offering to include travel vaccinations along with a comprehensive list of health services related to traveling abroad. 

Pharmaca patients can now schedule an appointment for any of the following vaccinations: hepatitis A and B, tetanus, typhoid, meningitis, Tdap, yellow fever (though not in Colorado locations), varicella and rabies. Pharmaca still offers vaccinations for flu, shingles, whooping cough and pneumonia on a walk-in basis.

WASHINGTON — Nearly 1,000 biotech drugs and vaccines for more than 100 diseases are currently under development, according to a new report.

LEESBURG, Va. — A Virginia-based pharmacy school will collaborate with an alliance of more than 22,000 pharmacies around the country to find ways to promote and increase pneumococcal vaccinations among elderly and high-risk people.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores made its voice heard in the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on the role of pharmacists in influenza vaccination, the retail pharmacy lobbying group said Wednesday.

NEW YORK — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new use for a pneumococcal vaccine made by Pfizer, the drug maker said.

Pfizer announced the approval of Prevnar 13 (pneumococcal 13-valent conjugate vaccine [diphtheria CRM197 protein]) for children and adolescents ages 6 years to 17 years for active immunization against the 13 Streptococcus pneumonia serotypes the vaccine covers. For this group, Prevnar 13 is administered as a one-time dose to patients who have never received it.

Amid an unusually strong flu season that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called an epidemic, supplies of flu vaccines are running low, and some people hoping to get immunized are having trouble finding them.

LONDON — Lingering fears of pandemic flu in the United States and a spike in flu activity will help to keep vaccination levels high, according to a new report.

GlobalData, a British market research firm, released a report Monday showing that seasonal influenza vaccine demand will increase from 2012's estimated 142 million to 158 million in 2022.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Though total same-store sales were down 8%, Walgreens Friday morning characterized a first quarter lifted by a steady influx of returning Express Scripts patients and driven by a steady stream of new Balance Rewards members. The Chicagotown retailer has signed 45 million Walgreens faithful since mid-September. "Today, we have the wind at our backs as we head into a new calendar year," Walgreens president and CEO Greg Wasson told analysts Friday morning.  

ALBANY — The New York Department of Health on Monday announced that reported cases of influenza are increasing throughout New York, and flu activity in the state is now considered to be widespread, with laboratory-confirmed cases in more than half the regions. 

Since New York began its annual seasonal flu surveillance this fall, influenza cases have been reported in 47 counties and the five boroughs of New York City. This is consistent with nationwide reporting that shows influenza activity is also increasing in many regions of the country.