My
in this matter:
First off, 2 of our kids have had it already, and the rest of us have been spared so far. They got it before we could get vaccinations done at the doctor. The scariest thing about it is how high their fevers were getting. Both of them were close to needing to go into Urgent Care. But it stayed below the threshold. It wasn't a puky flu, as you imagine it to be. It was VERY much an upper respiratory issue. For a while after their fevers broke they both were still coughing a lot and coughing up congestion. YUCK.
I work for a pharmaceutical company, and have taken courses in regulatory affairs. I know the stringent testing that all of these product need to go through and the qualifications that they need to meet for the FDA to approve them. The regulations have improved TREMENDOUSLY over the years. The industry and FDA react to adverse events very swiftly now, and have learned from the mistakes in the past. Safety and efficacy MUST be shown before any pharma product (or device) will be approved to go to market. While there is a rush for companies to get these products approved and gain market share, they are also keenly aware that if their product is not safe that it will have a HUGE negative impact on all of the rest of their product lines. There are several different ways that these thigns are tested before they get to the market, as well. There are lab studies, potentially animal studies, and then possibly human studies (though not every product goes through or needs to go through each type of study). With something like a flu vaccine, history allows them to be developed and get to market faster than many standard products. I don't know the intricacies of it, but if all they are doing is finding a diferent strain that they need to vaccinate against, I would think that a simple substitution would be the path chosen. Again, that is conjecture on my part, but seems like a reasonable path, given my knowledge of the system.