‘We Want a Safe and Healthy Future for Every American Family'

President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) to modernize influenza vaccines and help protect more Americans through vaccination.

The goals of this EO issued on September 19, 2019, are to improve the country’s ability to prepare for a potential outbreak of pandemic flu and to develop enhanced influenza vaccines to protect people against seasonal outbreaks.

Inserted below are the sections of the EO related to influenza vaccines:

• At President Trump’s direction, the Administration will work to promote new technologies to improve vaccine manufacturing and effectiveness.
• This will reduce reliance on more time-consuming, egg-based vaccine production.
• Improving the speed of production will enable experts to better match vaccines to actively circulating viruses, an important piece of making the vaccines more effective.

The Administration will advance the development of new, more effective vaccines.

“The real-world advances in our cell-based technology are exciting and show the true power of partnerships in tackling complex public health challenges. We have really only begun to understand the potential benefits of this manufacturing platform and are committed to continuing to innovate our technologies in the pursuit of delivering even better influenza outcomes into the future,” said Brent MacGregor, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Seqirus.

The Trump Administration will also work to increase Americans’ access to vaccines by reducing barriers to seasonal flu vaccine services.

To help put these objectives into action, President Trump is establishing a task force to identify policy priorities and monitor progress.

PROTECTING LIVES THROUGH PREVENTION

• Influenza vaccines are vitally important to disease prevention, yet current production methods need to be improved.
• Influenza vaccines are the best way to save lives, reduce illness severity, and prevent influenza infections in the first place.
• During the 2017–2018 flu season, influenza vaccinations prevented up to 7.1 million illnesses, 3.7 million medical visits, and 109,000 hospitalizations.
• A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that vaccines prevented more than 40,000 flu-associated deaths over a nine-year period.
• It is especially important to be able to rapidly produce well-matched influenza vaccines using scalable technologies in the event of a future influenza pandemic.
• Despite their important role in safeguarding the health of the American people, influenza vaccines are currently produced using more time-consuming, egg-based technology.
• More rapid non-egg-based production methods would give experts more time to select the most relevant strains.

Improving the influenza vaccine is part of President Trump’s longstanding effort to combat public health threats and promote quality care for all Americans.

Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the HHS, was established to aid in securing our nation from chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats, as well as from pandemic influenza and emerging infectious diseases. 

Recent BARDA news

• MF59 Adjuvanted Seasonal and Pandemic Influenza Vaccines Increase Immune Responses
• BARDA Exercises $261 Million Dollar Option for Innovative Anthrax Vaccine

“We look forward to continuing our partnership with BARDA and to working with the newly formed National Influenza Taskforce to identify ways in which Seqirus can further contribute to the U.S. government’s vision to protect more American lives from seasonal influenza and achieve the best level of preparedness possible in anticipation of the next influenza pandemic,” said Gregg Sylvester, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Seqirus.

Furthermore, President Trump has released a National Biodefense Strategy and a Global Health Security Strategy to help combat biological threats and pandemics.

Influenza News is published by Precision Vaccinations