W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 21 -- If for some reason you miss getting your fluvaccine, there’s now a backup: The government says taking aprescription pill every day during a flu outbreak can prevent themisery-inducing illness, too.
Tamiflu, however, is not meant to replace flu vaccine — not onlybecause it’s more expensive but also because those annual shotsoffer season-long protection credited with saving countless lives.
“Vaccination is the No. 1 preventive method againstinfluenza,” Dr. Debra Birnkrant of the Food and DrugAdministration stressed.
Not Everyone Gets Vaccinated
But only about 75 million of the nation’s 280 million people getvaccinated each year, leaving lots of potential flu victims. Nor isthe vaccine perfect. Indeed, the flu sickens 20 million Americansannually and kills 20,000. So doctors have long hoped foradditional protections.
Monday, the FDA announced that Tamiflu, a drug already used toshorten influenza patients’ symptoms by about a day, is highlyeffective at preventing flu, too — if people take one pill everyday during a flu outbreak.
The Tamiflu news comes amid serious delays of this year’s flushots. Vaccine production was delayed, prompting health officialsto urge healthy people to wait until December for a shot — twomonths later than usual — so that the elderly and people with heartdisease and other conditions that make them particularlysusceptible would get the earliest vaccine shipments. Vaccine isbeing shipped now, and health officials insist supplies areadequate.
Vaccination remains the easier, and for many people cheaper,protection. Many Americans get flu shots free through insurers,Medicare or employers, or for less than $20 during public vaccinecampaigns.
Tamiflu More Expensive
In contrast, a 10-day supply of Tamiflu costs $49 wholesale —and patients must swallow a pill each day during an outbreak, whichin some Tamiflu studies lasted a stunning 42 days.
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