Whitley urges public to get vaccinated against H1N1 influenza virus

With several months left in the influenza season and growing supplies of vaccine, now is an opportune time to get vaccinated against the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, says Richard Whitley, M.D., director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and current president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).

The reminder comes during National Influenza Vaccination Week, Jan. 10-16, a time when health professionals nationwide urge everyone, including health-care workers, to protect themselves and others by getting vaccinated, if they haven't already.

"Immunization is the best defense we have to prevent the spread of H1N1 influenza in the months ahead," says Whitley, who serves in the 2009 H1N1 Influenza Working Group of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). He also is on the Advisory Council for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, one of the National Institutes of Health, and he co-directs the UAB Center for Emerging Infections and Emergency Preparedness.

More than 118 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine have been made available nationwide, and the supply continues to grow. With influenza activity declining in many areas of the nation, the early part of 2010 is a perfect time to get vaccinated and help prevent H1N1 from spreading and causing more illness, hospitalizations, and even deaths in the coming months, Whitley says.