Food. Festivities. Flu. The holiday season is just around the corner, and the flu bug is biting again. The state’s first influenza cases were confirmed Tuesday by the Arizona Department of Health Services.

WASHINGTON - Preschoolers may signal the arrival of flu season: Thirty days after hacking 3- and 4-year-olds start showing up in doctors' offices and emergency rooms, flu-ridden adults follow.

January 12, 2005

Public health officials are trying to decide what to do with thousands of leftover doses of influenza vaccine as time runs out for protection from the flu.

The state House took the first steps Thursday to paving the way for Arizonans to get vaccinated against some diseases - including the flu - without having to go see a doctor.

Gov. Jan Brewer on Friday signed legislation that will allow pharmacists who have had special training to administer certain vaccines and immunizations without a doctor's prescription.

The state health department will be making 22,500 doses of influenza vaccine available to high-risk people this week as a dwindling supply has closed flu shot clinics and left people searching in vain for an inoculation.

The Arizona Department of Health Services marked the start of a new flu season Wednesday with shots available at the Capitol to state employees.

With the new flu season about to get under way, health officials are reminding people to get a flu shot.

To help save more than $100 million in taxpayer money annually, flu-vaccine efforts should be focused early in the flu season, with a stronger emphasis on children and seniors, according to preliminary findings of research.

Students entering the sixth grade must now get meningococcal and Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis) vaccinations.

A stampede of Arizonans seeking flu shot vaccines depleted supplies so much that state officials on Tuesday advised health providers to target their remaining doses to those at highest risk of developing complications from the flu.

WASHINGTON - Relief may be on the way for all those youngsters trembling at the thought of another needle jab. One day the flu vaccine may simply be placed under the tongue.

Demand for the seasonal flu vaccine for adults has proven so strong this year some Valley clinics are currently out. But they said more vaccine is coming.

Arizona infants lag behind when it comes to getting the full list of recommended immunizations by the time they turn 2, health officials say.

Arizona infants lag behind when it comes to getting the full list of recommended immunizations by the time they turn 2, health officials say.

WASHINGTON - Scientists will begin testing in January whether they can stretch the nation's limited supply of an experimental bird-flu vaccine by pairing it with an immune-system booster.

Maricopa County’s last flu shot clinic Saturday was its best ever, doling out more than 4,000 doses of vaccine and leaving a relatively small number of unused doses, according to a county official.

WASHINGTON - President Bush summoned vaccine manufacturers to a White House meeting Friday, hoping to personally boost the rickety industry amid increasing fears of a worldwide outbreak of bird flu. It's the latest in a flurry of preparations for a possible pandemic after criticism of the government's response to Hurricane Katrina.

Anxiety over a particularly bad flu season gripped the East Valley and the nation Friday, as people flooded immunization clinics even as the manufacturers of the influenza vaccine announced they had run out of supplies.

Thousands of insured children who may have received vaccines from county health departments — including one in Mesa — are now being encouraged to go to their family doctors for their shots.

ROME - U.N. officials said Tuesday they are exploring ways to step up the production of a vaccine in case bird flu mutates and sparks a human flu pandemic.

Arizona infants lag behind when it comes to getting the full list of recommended immunizations by the time they turn 2, health officials say.

Thousands of insured children who may have received vaccines from county health departments are now being encouraged to go to their family doctors for their shots.