FORT DETRICK, Md. — It’s that time of year again. As the seasons change and temperatures drop, seasonal influenza activity will soon increase.
To help keep Soldiers, their families, and other Army beneficiaries healthy, the U.S. Army Medical Supply Agency’s Distribution Operations Center (DOC) expects to distribute approximately 1.4 million doses of vaccine this influenza season.
Although DOC works closely with the Defense Health Agency and the Defense Logistics Agency to ship vaccines each year, it is actually an ongoing process each year, as traditional influenza seasons can vary geographically.
“We continue to ship influenza vaccines throughout the year,” said Liz Serra, deputy director of USAMMA DOC. “While the annual southern hemisphere vaccine targets regions below the equator and its season is from April to September, the northern hemisphere vaccine is seasonal, with peak influenza activity occurring from August to March. It’s the moon.”
As of Oct. 23, Army vaccine shipments totaled 1,067,900 doses, about 77% of the Army’s requested allocation, Serra said.
The Army’s share represents the majority of the 3 million vaccine doses distributed across the Department of Defense, which has set an annual goal of vaccinating at least 90% of all active-duty military personnel by Jan. 15. There is.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that, on average, 5% to 20% of Americans get the flu each season, with children and older adults more susceptible.
This year’s vaccine is a trivalent vaccine rather than a quadrivalent vaccine like in previous years, and does not contain influenza B/Yamagata strain viruses or viral protein components. According to the CDC, this particular virus has not been detected in global influenza surveillance since March 2020.
Influenza is just one of several viruses expected to contribute to respiratory disease activity this fall and winter. Others include coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
The CDC projects that the peak rate of hospitalizations due to influenza this year will be similar to last year, but much will depend on the dominant strain of the virus circulating, herd immunity, and overall vaccine effectiveness. .
“Vaccination will play an important role in preventing hospitalizations due to respiratory influenza,” the CDC’s outlook for the 2024-25 respiratory disease season states. “Experts estimate with moderate confidence that the effectiveness of the seasonal influenza vaccine against hospitalizations will likely be between 33% and 50%. within the range of vaccine efficacy.
Although seasonal activity remains relatively low nationwide as of late October, the CDC recommends that everyone 6 months of age and older receive the annual influenza vaccine. Children 6 months to 8 years of age may need two doses, about 1 month apart.
In addition to the vaccine, handwashing remains the top recommendation to prevent virus transmission, but the CDC also urges people to take precautions such as wearing masks, physical distancing, and improving airflow in their homes and workplaces. We are calling for further defensive measures to be considered.
USAMMA is the Army Medical Logistics Command, which handles medical materiel, and is a direct unit of Army Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC).
Photo date: October 30, 2024 Posted: October 30, 2024 10:57 Story ID: 484219 Location: Fort Detrick, Maryland, USA Number of web views: 7 Number of downloads: 0 Public domain
In this piece by CJ Lovelace, identified by DVIDS, the Army distributes nearly 1.4 million vaccines to combat the expected flu surge each year, https://www.dvidshub.net/about/ You must comply with the restrictions set forth in copyright.
