NFID Convenes News Conference to Urge Early Seasonal Influenza Vaccination

HHS Secretary and CDC Director Join Leading Medical Experts to Share
Developments About Seasonal Influenza

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) presents key
information for the upcoming flu season every fall, and this year - a pandemic
year - NFID joins leading medical experts to call for Americans to be
vaccinated against all types of influenza. An adequate supply of seasonal
influenza vaccine is expected, and is already being distributed.

Seasonal influenza kills 36,000 Americans a year and hospitalizes more than
200,000. The threat is constant and recurring each year, but the strains,
severity and impact vary year to year. Now more than ever, there is a need to
communicate clearly about influenza, to:

-- Dispel any confusion about severity and prevention for both seasonal
and
H1N1 influenza
-- Identify who is at risk

-- Discuss the use of influenza vaccination, as well as the use of
pneumococcal vaccination - a vaccine that may find increased use to
help
ward off influenza complications this season

A panel including experts from academia, government, health professional
societies and the public health field will address the need to make seasonal
influenza vaccination a priority.

-- Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services
-- Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH, Director, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC)
-- Anne Schuchat, MD, Director, National Center for Immunization and
Respiratory Diseases, CDC
-- Gregory A. Poland, MD, Mayo Clinic, Chair, Adult Immunization Advisory
Board, American College of Physicians
-- Cora L. Christian, MD, AARP Board of Directors
-- David T. Tayloe, Jr., MD, FAAP, President, American Academy of
Pediatrics
-- Nancy H. Nielsen, MD, PhD, Immediate Past President, American Medical
Association

-- William Schaffner, MD, President-Elect, NFID, Program Moderator,
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

A question and answer session will immediately follow the news conference.

DATE/TIME: Thursday, September 10, 2009, 10 a.m.

WHERE: The National Press Club, 14th and F Streets, NW, 13th Floor,
First Amendment Lounge, Washington, DC 20045; also via live Webcast at
http://www.visualwebcaster.com/NFID-2009-News-Conference and telephone at
800-954-1051

Pre-registration for attendance is preferred. Journalists must present media
identification or a business card issued by a recognized news organization.
Freelance journalists must present a letter of assignment on letterhead from a
recognized news organization and a business card.

This news conference is sponsored by the National Foundation for Infectious
Diseases (NFID) in partnership with the National Influenza Vaccine Summit and
is supported, in part, by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and through unrestricted
educational grants to NFID from CSL Biotherapies, Inc., Flu Vaccine Business
Practices Initiative (c/o HIDA), GlaxoSmithKline, MedImmune, Merck and Co.,
Inc., Novartis Vaccines, Roche, sanofi pasteur and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

CONTACT: Jennifer Corrigan, 732-382-8898, 732-742-7148 (cell phone),
jenn.corrigan@comcast.net or Diana Dopfel, 212-886-2285, 631-807-8422 (cell
phone), ddopfel@alembichealth.com

/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- Sept. 8/

SOURCE National Foundation for Infectious Diseases