News you won't see in controlled mainstream media.

By CAROLYN THOMPSON | Associated Press Writer
11:54 PM EDT, June 8, 2009
BUFFALO, N.Y. - A top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that swine flu apparently isn't going away and some people may need to get two separate flu shots this fall.

Although the number of cases of the H1N1 virus has been declining in most places, health officials expect a resurgence this fall, possibly in a more severe form.

"It's not over," said Richard Besser, who was acting director of the federal government's top public health agency until this week when he returned to his post as director of the CDC office on terrorism preparedness and emergency response.

Besser told a meeting of state epidemiologists that scientists will be keeping close watch on the Southern Hemisphere as its flu season begins, looking for clues about how the virus will behave in the United States during the next flu season. That will help shape policy decisions, including whether to recommend closing schools hit by an outbreak and who should be included if a vaccination campaign becomes necessary.

he agency has been shipping virus samples to manufacturers for development of a vaccine, which would be given separately from the seasonal flu vaccine. High risk groups, including the elderly and people with immune deficiencies, are generally encouraged to get the seasonal flu shots.

CDC officials have reported more than 8,500 probable and confirmed cases of swine flu in the U.S., including 12 deaths and more than 500 hospitalizations.

"My biggest concern is complacency, a sense that we dodged a bullet here," Besser said at the annual Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists Conference. "I don't think we can let our guard down."

He said officials would use the summer to study the impact of the hundreds of school closures that resulted from the agency's initial guidance to shut down schools for about two weeks if there were suspected cases of swine flu. The recommendation was lifted in early May after authorities said the virus had turned out to be milder than feared.

"Clearly, schools can be seen as an area where there's a multiplier effect," Besser said. "But you also have to understand what happens when the schools close. Where do the children go? Do they become less of a multiplier or more of a multiplier? I don't know that we have the answers to any of that."

He said he was interested in Canada's policy of not closing schools and, instead, using them to care for students while teaching them how to decrease transmission.

"The last thing they want to do is send these children out into the community," Besser said. "They want to keep them there so that parents can work, the children are well-cared for and they can use that as a way to provide education and treatment."

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--swineflushots0608jun08,0,1200596.story