New Jersey Children Nearly Poisoned To Death With Pharmacy Fluoride Pills

March 14, 2012

Natural News

By Ethan A. Huff

“Why are people taking fluoride pills to begin with?  That just makes no sense.  Who knew there was even such a thing.”  –KTRN

More than a dozen families in New Jersey were shocked to learn recently that some of the supposed fluoride pills they had received from a CVS/pharmacy in Chatham were actually tamoxifen pills, a chemotherapy drug used to treat breast cancer. ABC News reports that an unknown error resulted in some of these families administering this chemotherapy medication to their children rather than the fluoride pills, a monumental error that could have life-threatening consequences.

The Chatham CVS/pharmacy in question may have been dispensing an unknown amount of chemotherapy pills in fluoride prescriptions for at least the past two months, which is why the pharmacy is attempting to contact all families that ordered prescriptions for 0.5 milligram (mg) fluoride tablets within the past 60 days to notify them of the potential problem. Meanwhile, an investigation is currently underway to determine the cause of the mixup.

“CVS/pharmacy has industry-leading pharmacy systems and processes designed to enhance the safety of the prescription filling process, including inventory controls that keep similar-looking medications in separate areas, such as fluoride tablets and tamoxifen,” alleged CVS Caremark in a recent statement about the issue. “We are actively investigating this matter to determine how the mistake occurred in order to take corrective actions to prevent this from happening again.”

Click here for the full report.

NaturalNews Announces Flu Shot Propaganda Photo Contest

October 25, 2011

Natural News

By Mike Adams

As the fraudulent flu shot season is in full swing, retailers who profit from hawking deadly flu shots are resorting to the most bizarre and obnoxious marketing tactics yet devised to convince people to poison themselves with flu shots. As we’ve already documented here on NaturalNews, Walgreens stores are using incentive prizes like iPad awards for employees who push the most flu shots on customers.

A CVS pharmacy has been caught using life-sized grim reapers to promote its own flu shot vaccines.

Safeway stores are announcing 10% discounts on grocery purchases for those who agree to be injected with these flu shot vaccines, which admittedly contain toxic chemical adjuvants and neurological disruptors that can cause permanent neurological damage.

“Yeah, sure, I might experience random seizures and blurred vision now, but I saved 10% on my groceries!”

$500 in prizes for the winners of our flu shot propaganda photo contest!
To expose the unscrupulous propaganda and quackery of the vaccine industry — which has devolved into a bunch of retail snake oil hucksters poisoning the public for profit — we are launching the first ever “flu shot propaganda picture contest!”

To enter the contest, simply snap a photo of flu shot promotions you see somewhere, then email them to us at reply@naturalnews.com using the subject line “FLU SHOT PICTURE ENTRY”.

The pictures must be TRUE and real — no Photoshopped pictures are allowed, please, and no montages or other compilations. Just a real snapshot of a flu shot advertising sign or propaganda campaign of some sort.

We will sort through all the pictures sent to us and pick the top dozen or so for a reader vote. Then we will invite the readers to vote on their favorite pictures.

The top 3 pictures receiving the most votes win!

First prize: $250 gift certificate at the NaturalNews Store.

Second prize: $150 gift certificate at the NaturalNews Store.

Third prize: $100 gift certificate at the NaturalNews Store.

Again, to enter the contest, just email your snapshots to reply@naturalnews.com and use “FLU SHOT PICTURE ENTRY” as the subject line of your email.

Contest rules
1) The picture must have been taken by you, not grabbed off the internet.

2) The picture must be real, not staged, and not Photoshopped beyond basic brightness and contrast adjustments.

3) Contest entries must be received by Friday, November 4, 2011.

4) No VIDEOS. This is for photos only, please. (We may do a video contest later on.)

5) The prize gift certificates are redeemable at the NaturalNews Store, and can be used to buy anything you’d like there, including items already on sale.

6) The contest is open to anyone, anywhere in the world. But the flu shot propaganda itself needs to be in English (if there’s any text in the picture).

7) You agree to allow us to publish any photo you submit. The whole point of this is to share these photos across the ‘net to show how ridiculous and obnoxious the flu shot industry has become.

How to win
We are looking for the most obnoxious flu shot propaganda you can find. The Grim Reapers holding the flu shot sign was pretty funny. Can you find something even more obnoxious?

Can you find examples of outright lies in flu shot marketing propaganda? (Claims that flu shots “protect you from the flu” are pure quackery, for example.)

Use your creativity! We’re looking for photos that evoke a strong emotional response, either of hilarity or disgust.

There probably won’t be a huge number of entries, so by submitting just one photo to us, you have a realistic chance of winning the top prizes!

Go ahead and send your entries to reply@naturalnews.com — please LIMIT your attached photos to 10mb or smaller, or your email will automatically bounce.

We can’t wait to see (and share) your photos. Thank you for participating!

P.S. If you want to be ANONYMOUS, then submit your name as ANONYMOUS with the photo. If you want name credit, then submit your name as you’d like us to credit you. We will gladly credit the winners with a name and website URL.

Click here foe the full report from Natural News.

Stop The Walgreens Flu Shot Harassment

October 17, 2011

Natural News

By Mike Adams

Accounts are pouring in to NaturalNews that Walgreens customers feel they are being verbally harassed by Walgreens employees at the checkout counter over flu shots. Multiple accounts from NaturalNews readers describe aggressive verbal harassment by Walgreens employees who appear to be “over the top” in pushing flu shots, even onto pregnant women!

“I get my scripts filled at Walgreens so they know me real well at the one I go to,” one reader told NaturalNews. “When I was pregnant they kept trying to push one on me and I kept refusing them.”

Several readers who say they are Walgreens employees have also reported to NaturalNews — and requested anonymity out of fear of losing their jobs — that they were being rewarded with incentives or threatened with reprimands if they met a certain “goal” of pushing a certain number of customers into getting flu shots. “I have been told that I have to push the flu shot on my customers, arrange flu shot clinics at off-site locations and draw up flu shots to give to the customers,” one person who claimed to be a Walgreens employee told NaturalNews. They added, “Please don’t blame the employees who are asking about the flu shot, they are having their jobs threatened,” indicating the existence of a feeling of intimidation by their employer.

“Another employee informed me that they do not receive bonuses but will receive write ups and threats if they forget to ask each customer who enters their stores if they want a flu shot,” says blogger Aydan in Oak Park, California

“A Walgreen’s employee who checked me out yesterday asked if I had gotten my flu shot,” reports another NaturalNews reader. “I said no. She pressed me to get it. Then, she added that their entire staff was going to be rewarded with iPads when they met their quota.”

CVS pharmacies also appear to be using employees to push flu shots: “I work for CVS and they are making us wear shirts that say get your flu shot today, and [they give a] 50 dollar bonus for whoever has the most sales. I hate my job…” says another NaturalNews reader.

I called Walgreens media relations department to ask whether this pushing of flu shots onto customers was a corporate policy. There, I spoke with Robert Elfinger, a media relations representative for Walgreens. He said he was unaware of any corporate policy asking employees to verbally promote vaccines. He also stated he was unaware of any complaints from customers about Walgreens employees wanting people to get flu shots. So this is neither a denial nor a confirmation of anything; it just says that the Walgreens media relations department isn’t aware of any of this.

Let’s get ‘em in the loop on this, shall we? A lot of people are not happy about how they are being treated at the Walgreens checkout counter. Some Walgreens stores are reportedly getting very aggressive with their pushing of vaccines onto customers, so we have decided to launch a public complaint campaign called Stop the Walgreens Flu Shot Harassment!

This campaign also encompasses CVS pharmacies, by the way (see below), which has its own special ways of pushing flu shot vaccines onto customers.

Lodge your complaint with Walgreens and CVS
Were you verbally bullied by a Walgreens employee over a flu shot? Did you feel uncomfortably pressured, or were you scowled at when you said NO to the flu shot?

Lodge a complaint with Walgreens!

Call their customer service line at: (800) 925-4733

You can also write Walgreens (as in sending a physical letter) at:
Walgreen Company Consumer Relations
1411 Lake Cook Rd, Mail Stop #L428
Deerfield, IL 60015

If you wish to lodge a complaint with CVS pharmacies about being bullied over flu shot marketing aggression, contact them here:

Call the CVS customer service line at: (800) 746-7287

Important tips for submitting complaints: Do not submit complaints to Walgreens from your work computer. Your own employer may track your internet usage and actually punish you for opposing vaccines! (Many employers receive kickbacks from vaccine retailers for “recruiting” their employees for flu shots. We’ll be reporting more on that in the coming days.)

Also, remember that if you submit your email address to Walgreens, they will have your email and they might theoretically use it to email you things like flu shot special offers, for example. So I encourage people to use anonymous emails or “throwaway” email addresses acquired through services such as Hotmail or Yahoo.

Click Here For The Full Report From Natural News

Pharmacist Denies Inhaler to Woman Having Asthma Attack For Being a Dollar and Change Short

October 19th, 2010

Natural News

By: Jonathan Benson

A New Jersey woman suffering a severe asthma attack was recently denied an inhaler at her local CVS pharmacy because she was a little short on cash. According to a recent report at Fox 5 in New York, the pharmacist at the CVS in Garwood, N.J., left Katherine O’Connor to suffer on the ground because her boyfriend Jack only had a $20 bill, which was a dollar and some change short of covering the total cost of the inhaler.

“I had exactly a twenty-dollar bill. It came to twenty-one and change,” Jack said to Fox 5. “I offered him my cell phone, my wallet. I said I live right around the corner. I come in here all the time.”

But the pharmacist would not comply, said Jack. The couple ended up leaving the store empty-handed, Katherine still having an attack. Jack ended up calling a paramedic friend who was able to arrive quickly and treat Katherine. She recovered, but the couple is shocked at the way they were treated by the pharmacist.

When asked about the situation, the CVS store manager allegedly had no comment. The CVS corporate office, however, responded with a statement saying that “[t]he well-being of our customers is our highest priority and we are looking into this matter.”

CVS was recently implicated in a government lawsuit for illegally selling over-the-counter cough and cold medicines to criminals who used them to make methamphetamines. The pharmacy chain pleaded guilty to the charges, agreeing to pay a $75 million civil penalty and forfeit $2.6 million in profits from the drugs.

Click here for the full report from Natural News

CVS to Pay $77.6 Million in Meth Case

October 14th, 2010

CNNMoney.com

By: Blake Ellis

CVS Pharmacy Inc. has agreed to pay $77.6 million in fines and returned profits in a case alleging improper control in the sale of an ingredient used to make methamphetamine, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles said CVS, the largest operator of retail pharmacies, repeatedly failed to properly monitor sales of pseudophedrine, which is contained in some cold medicines and is also used to make meth.

Through failing to monitor these transactions, the pharmacy helped methamphetamine traffickers in Southern California and the area around Las Vegas to get their hands on “large amounts” of pseudophedrine, the prosecutors said in a statement – adding that the sales fueled a rise in methamphetamine production in California.

As part of the pharmacy’s agreement with prosecutors, CVS will pay a $75 million fine, the largest civil penalty ever paid under the Controlled Substances Act, the prosecutors said. They also said CVS will forfeit $2.6 million in profits received from illegal transactions.

“This case shows what happens when companies fail to follow their ethical and legal responsibilities,” said U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr. “CVS knew it had a duty to prevent methamphetamine trafficking, but it failed to take steps to control the sale of a regulated drug used by methamphetamine cooks as an essential ingredient for their poisonous stew.”

Because CVS has admitted to the charges and has agreed to enter a compliance agreement with the government, criminal charges against the pharmacy will not be pursued, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

CVS said it will continue to cooperate with federal prosecutors on the case.

“While this lapse occurred in 2007 and 2008 and has been addressed, it was an unacceptable breach of the company’s policies and was totally inconsistent with our values,” CVS Caremark CEO Thomas Ryan said in a prepared statement. “CVS/pharmacy is unwavering in its support of the measures taken by the federal government and the states to prevent drug abuse.”

Shares of CVS (CVS, Fortune 500) slipped nearly 2% in afternoon trading Thursday.

Click here for the full report from CNNMoney.com

FDA: Popular Mouthwashes Make False Claims

September 28, 2010

WebMD

By: Bill Hendrick

The FDA has warned Walgreen Co., Johnson & Johnson, and CVS Corp. to stop making unproven claims that their mouth rinse products can reduce plaque above the gum line, promote gum health, and prevent gum disease.

The companies claim their mouthwashes are effective in preventing gum disease, but no such benefit has been demonstrated, the FDA says in a news release.

The FDA says it sent warning letters notifying the three companies of its objections to their claims and ordering them to comply with existing federal regulations.

The mouth rinse products contain the active ingredient sodium fluoride, but the agency says it has determined that the substance, while effective in preventing cavities, has not been shown to remove plaque or prevent gum disease.

Claims by Mouthwash Companies
The products contain misleading labeling statements, the FDA says. “It is important for the FDA to take appropriate enforcement action when companies make false or unproven product claims to ensure that consumers are not misinformed or misled,” Deborah Autor, director of the Office of Compliance in FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, says in a news release.

The companies, under federal law, are not allowed to say products are effective in treating a disease unless those claims have been shown to be true and recognized by the FDA as being safe and effective over-the-counter products.

No Adverse Effects Reported
So far, the FDA says it is unaware of any injuries or adverse health effects related to use of the mouth rinse products, but says the companies’ claims their products are beneficial to gum health lack proof.

It says consumers who are using the rinses may continue to do so for cavity prevention without injury risk, but should know that the FDA has no data that show the products can prevent gum disease.

The FDA says the three companies must take steps with 15 days to correct the violations, and that failure to do so may result in seizure of products or other civil or criminal penalties.

Companies Respond
The FDA’s letter to Johnson & Johnson notes that the company claims its “Listerine Total Care Anticavity Mouthwash” strengthens teeth, restores minerals, fights plaque above the gum line and kills bad breath germs, among other things. But the letter notes that the statements are equivalent to claims that would be made for a drug, as defined by the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, and are therefore in violation of the act.

Bonnie Jacobs, a spokeswoman for Johnson & Johnson, tells WebMD that the company has received the FDA letter and “will respond to the agency in an appropriate and timely manner.”

The agency says CVS claims that its CVS Complete Care Anticavity Mouthwash not only prevents cavities and kills germs that cause bad breath, but “promotes healthy gums,” thus mitigating disease. The agency notes that the CVS claims, like those of the other two companies, violate the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and, without FDA approval, their mouth rinses cannot be marketed as preventive products for gum disease.

Mike DeAngelis, a spokesman for CVS, says in an email the company will “fully comply with all FDA labeling requirements.”

Similarly, a letter to Walgreen Company refers to the Walgreen Mouth Rinse Full Action. The labeling says that it “helps prevent cavities” and “helps fight visible plaque above the gum line” — claims that would classify it as a drug, violating the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, according the FDA.

Robert Elfinger, a Walgreen spokesman, says in an email that the company is “committed to working with the FDA on this matter and will be responding to their letter accordingly.”

Click here for the full report from WebMD

PCBs Found In Fish Oil Supplements

June 22,2010

Natural News

By: Ethan A. Huff

A California lawsuit is accusing several fish oil supplement manufacturers of selling fish oils that contain unsafe levels of polychlorinated biphenyl compounds, also known as PCBs. The state’s Proposition 65 requires products that may contain toxic ingredients above safe levels to have warning labels for consumer safety.

Five supplement companies, CVS and Rite Aid drug stores, and Omega Protein, Inc., the world’s largest producer of omega-3 fish oil, are all named in the suit, which the plaintiffs hope will bring light to fish oil contamination problems. They also hope to see more accurate labeling of fish oils that includes specifics about contaminants like PCBs; that way, consumers will be able to make better decisions about which kinds are safe to buy.

The PCB chemical family consists of 209 different chemical compounds, all of which were tested for in the lawsuit by a California lab. That same lab also tested each of the product samples for 12 of the most toxic PCB compounds. It then evaluated each sample in terms of daily exposure to PCBs overall, and daily exposure to PCBs in terms of toxicity.

The brands tested included Nature Made, Twinlab, Now Foods, Solgar and GNC. Each brand included various types of fish oil, including cod liver, shark liver and salmon. Those that tested the lowest for PCBs contained one-70th the amount of those with the highest levels, indicating a significant difference in contamination among various brands, and types, of fish oil.

According to David Roe, the man who filed the lawsuit in San Francisco’s Superior Court, the oils that tested highest exceed California’s daily limit for PCBs by a factor of ten in terms of cancer risk. On the same token, some of the oils tested very low, and are not of particular concern to consumers.

Both Nature Made and Twinlab issued immediate responses to the lawsuit in defense of their respective brands’ safety. Erin Hlasney from the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), a supplement industry trade group, also came to the defense of fish oils in general, explaining that they have been used safely for decades.

But the plaintiffs contend that it is not enough to simply say that a product meets guidelines; consumers have a right to know how a product actually tests for contaminants once it arrives on store shelves. Many brands claim that their fish oils have been purified and treated to reduce or remove contaminants, but few actually explain to what extent these toxins have been removed.

Click here for full report

Tainted Ingredient Sold After Salmonella Found

March 10, 2010

Wall Street Journal

By Jared A. Favole

Basic Food Flavors Inc., the Las Vegas company at the center of a recall of more than 100 food products, continued to make and distribute food ingredients for about a month after it learned the bacteria salmonella was present at its processing facility, according to a Food and Drug Administration report.

The FDA last week recommended companies recall products, from chips to soups, that contain a commonly used additive made by Basic Food Flavors that tested positive for salmonella. The additive is mixed into foods to give them a meaty flavor.

FDA officials inspected Basic Food’s plant for about two weeks starting in mid-February and found the company didn’t adequately clean equipment and store foods to protect against the growth of contaminants such as salmonella, according to the inspection report.

The report comes as the number of products being recalled has expanded to over 100, including vegetable dips made by McCormick & Co. and honey mustard pretzels sold at CVS Caremark Corp. drug stores and Safeway Inc. grocery stores.

The inspectors noted that “light-brown residue” and “dark-brown liquid” was observed on or around where Basic Food makes flavor-enhancing ingredients used in foods. The inspectors said brown residue was also found in a plastic pipe used in making food ingredients.

Basic Food makes a flavor enhancer called hydrolyzed vegetable protein, or HVP. The FDA report said the company first learned salmonella was present at its processing facility for HVP on Jan. 21. The company continued to distribute the ingredients until Feb. 15. A representative for the company wasn’t immediately available to comment. The company hasn’t responded to earlier requests for comment.

No illnesses have been reported related to the recall, said FDA spokeswoman Rita Chappelle.

FDA and other health officials have said the risk of people getting sick from products containing the HVP is low because the flavor enhancer generally makes up less than 1% of all the ingredients in a food. The FDA also said cooking some products before consuming them may kill the salmonella.

Click here for the full report.

Retail Stores Dropping Brand Names

February 17, 2010

CNN Money

By Parija Kavilanz

Don’t be shocked if you can’t find your favorite salad dressing or mouthwash on your next trip to Wal-Mart.

Large retailers — including Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500), the world’s biggest — are wrestling with having too many types of brand-name products. At the same time, shoppers are buying less and looking for bargains.

So unless a particular brand is a top seller in its category, it’s getting knocked off the shelf — and sometimes getting replaced by a cheaper store brand.

For example, Wal-Mart recently removed Glad and Hefty-branded storage bags from shelves, replacing them with its own lower-priced Great Value brand, according to the parent companies of both products.

In the case of Hefty, parent Pactiv Corp. (PTV) told CNNMoney.com that Wal-Mart reversed its decision, and will return its products to shelves this spring — after Pactiv agreed to make the Great Value bags that will sell alongside the competing Hefty product.

“Hefty was off Wal-Mart’s shelves, but we are being brought back,” said Matt Gonring, spokesman for Pactiv Corp.

Bill Pecoriello, CEO of market research firm ConsumerEdge Research, expects Wal-Mart and other sellers will trim several name-brands across categories in coming months, or negotiate deals to get better pricing.

According to Pecoriello, those categories at greatest risk of losing brands are everyday-type purchases such as household products, toiletries and food staples.

These are also categories in which retailers have aggressively pushed their own house brands.

“If you consider the economics of this, if Wal-Mart can build customer loyalty for its own brand, which is also cheaper-priced and cheaper to stock than name-brands, then it will,” he said.

Heavyweight
Moves such as this are significant given Wal-Mart’s heavyweight status in the retail industry.

“Any change that Wal-Mart makes with its product assortment has enormous implications for the entire industry,” said Ali Dibadj, senior analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

Wal-Mart declined comment for this story.

Wal-Mart is not the only one doing this, according to Dibadj. He says leading drug store chains, including CVS and Walgreens, grocers such as Kroger (KR, Fortune 500), and Wal-Mart’s rival discounter, Target (TGT, Fortune 500), are also looking to simplify their store shelves.

In good economic times, product variety is a must for retailers. But in down times, when shoppers aren’t buying much, variety can be a burden.

“Wal-Mart’s a little fed up,” said Lora Cecera, retail expert and partner at strategy consulting firm Altimeter Group. “I think the feeling is that as these companies keep extending their [product] lines, it’s only causing confusion for shoppers and not really driving them to buy more products.”

As a consumer, she asked, “Do I really need to decide between 15 different types of toothpaste when I go to a store?”

Dawn Willoughby, vice president-general manager of Glad brand for the Clorox Co. (CLX, Fortune 500), agreed.

“On an industry level, we’ve been talking about simplifying product assortment for a long time,” said Willoughby. “If you walk into a Wal-Mart or another large retail chain, there are so many products on shelves that it does make it harder to shop.”

Let’s make a deal
Besides cutting clutter, industry experts say Wal-Mart and other retailers are looking for more lucrative deals from suppliers on both prices and advertising.

In one recent example, according to published reports, Wal-Mart removed Arm & Hammer liquid laundry detergent from most of its stores. But the discounter brought back the product after Arm & Hammer boosted its advertising for the product at Wal-Mart.

Arm & Hammer parent Church & Dwight (CHD) did not return calls for comment. Other consumer product makers — including Colgate-Palmolive and Procter & Gamble — either declined comment or did not return calls.

Said Dibadj, “Perhaps one consideration in which product to cut is based on which company gives [Wal-Mart] the best deal.”

Citing the Hefty example, he said “these threats can become quite aggressive, such as delisting and subsequent relisting after a compromise.

Altimeter Group’s Cecera believes consumers stand to win from the retailers’ moves.

“In this recession, consumers have certainly become less discriminating with what they buy,” said Cecera. “Consumers have rushed to value prices, and they are buying generic brands.”

She said retailers’ own brands have grown their market share by between 2% to 6%.

This newfound affection for store brands is “sticking,” said Dibadj. He cites his firm’s recent survey finding that 77% of consumers who traded down to less expensive private label products are happy with their decision.

Click here for the full report.

H1N1 Vaccine Easier to Get Although Interest is Slipping

December 15, 2009

Fox News

By Marrecca Fiore

Starting Tuesday, the Tennessee counties of Memphis and Shelby will begin administering H1N1 vaccine to everyone who wants it, joining several other municipalities across the country that have already opened access or are considering doing so.

“I get the sense that more areas are starting to vaccinate outside the priority groups,” said Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Skinner said federal officials have been clear in their desire to have priority groups, such as pregnant women and children, vaccinated first.

“But federal guidelines also give states the flexibility to vaccinate outside the priority groups if the states feel that’s the best thing to do given the issues surrounding supply and demand at the local level,” Skinner said.

States are in the best position to make the call to open the vaccine to everyone, Skinner said, adding that more states will be vaccinating outside the priority groups in the coming weeks and months as more of it becomes available.

“There will come a time when everyone will have access to it,” he said.

The H1N1 vaccine became available in the U.S. in early October, about a month after schools and colleges opened. By mid-month, 14 million doses of the vaccine were available, about half of what the U.S. expected to have received from manufacturers.

A top Dallas County (Texas) health official on Saturday called for distribution of the H1N1 vaccine to everyone, as more vaccine appears to be headed toward North Texas pharmacies.

The move comes as interest in obtaining the shot by high-risk groups appears to be waning.

Zachary Thompson, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services, told the Dallas Morning News he was concerned that the vaccine supply already shared with local pharmacies had not found enough takers among the targeted high-risk groups.

A spot check of local pharmacies by The Dallas Morning News last week found that some stores still had hundreds of shots available for people in high-risk groups.

In addition to local pharmacies, chain drugstores including Walgreens and CVS are offering the vaccines in Dallas County.

Walgreens, which is distributing vaccine in 25-30 states, is complying with federal guidelines and immunizing only high-risk groups against the virus, said spokesman Jim Cohn. He said the company would be willing to offer the vaccinations to everyone if that were the directive of the municipal health department.

“We work on a state-by-state and county-by-county basis,” he said. “In some cases, we’re sitting and waiting for the vaccine. In other cases, the (municipal) government came to us early on and asked us to be part of the supply chain so that the vaccine could be distributed as efficiently as possible. We would like to be able to receive and offer vaccine in all 50 states and it is becoming more widely available as time goes on.”

Despite reports of an H1N1 virus mutation in Norway, a federal health official said Tuesday that the H1N1 vaccine is well-matched and still a person’s best defense against the virus.

“We have not seen clusters of resistance,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “The cases reported are interesting, but they are not of concern.”

Frieden said the H1N1 virus is gradually decreasing in the United States, but is still widespread in 32 states and people should remain vigilant.

“Although the flu is going down,” Frieden said, “it’s far from gone. … And flu season lasts until May so there’s still a lot of time to see what will happen.”

The CDC polled 12 health experts who were split as to whether the country will see another surge of H1N1 this flu season.

“One (expert) said flip a coin,” Frieden said. “We don’t know what the future will hold. … What we do know is that the vaccine is the very best way to protect yourself.”

Click here for the full report

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