You heard it here first: WHO asks nations to share swine flu vaccine
Scott McPherson
in Politics and government, influenza and infectious diseases
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1 Comment
As I speculated last week, as a durect result of tests showing only one vaccination might be required to confer full immunity to H1N1/2009 "swine" flu, the WHO is asking the wealthier nations to donate vaccine to the poorer nations.
I had speculated that the United States should seriously consider this option, as long as we could also gain a functional amount of "herd immunity." Go back two or three blogs and you will find the story, dated 9/11/09.
Here is the story from Bloomberg. Remember you can always count on this blogsite to give you good, informed speculation. Share it with your friends!
One-Shot Swine Flu Results May Spur Vaccine Sharing, WHO Says
By Michelle Fay Cortez
Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- The World Health Organization is in talks with the U.S. and other developed countries about using pandemic flu vaccine from their stockpiles for poorer nations after studies suggested only one shot is needed for protection.
Half a dozen trials released in the past week found a single injection of swine flu vaccine protected most healthy adults from the virus known formally as H1N1, with infection- fighting antibodies produced in as little as eight days. U.S. regulators approved shots from four manufacturers yesterday, clearing the way for immunizations to start within weeks.
“This is all contingent on these early reports” from the studies, said David Mercer, acting head of the communicable diseases unit of the WHO’s European region, which met in Copenhagen this week. “It may be possible that a single dose is protective, which would double the number of people that could be immunized.”
Public health officials expected it would take two doses to trigger immunity to the infection, a novel mix of swine, avian and human influenza. Countries including the U.S., U.K., France, Belgium, Finland, Sweden and Australia have already placed orders for the vaccine. Additional studies are needed to confirm the finding that only one shot is needed and can ensure protection for children and other high-risk groups.
“Some countries may have excessive stocks of vaccine and some won’t see the demand they have expected,” said Thomas Zeltner, director of Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health. “What is needed here is a good dialogue to ensure the reasonable use of vaccination.”
Active Discussions
The U.S. is in “very active discussions” about donating some of its supply to countries that need it, said Nancy Cox, director for the flu division of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.S. has about 600 million doses in advance purchase agreements from GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Novartis AG, CSL Ltd., AstraZeneca Plc and Sanofi-Aventis SA.
In a best-case scenario, the U.S. may need only half that amount, said Rebecca Martin, medical officer at the United Nations health agency’s European communicable diseases unit. It’s too soon to know if that will be the case, she said.
“We welcome the initial findings of some clinical trials,” WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said in a statement. “We cannot conclude now how many doses would be required for different groups.”
The U.K., which has ordered 132 million doses, is still planning two shots for each person and is monitoring the clinical trials, according to a Department of Health spokeswoman who declined to be named in line with government policy.
Age Groups
More data from the studies will be coming in mid-October about how effective the vaccine is in different age groups, Martin said in an interview.
“This is not just in the European region,” Martin said. “We’re all dipping into the same pool of vaccine.”
CSL, based in Melbourne, said it plans to donate the vaccine to developing nations in Asia and the South Pacific and is discussing a pilot program with the WHO to start by providing as many as 100,000 doses. Paris-based Sanofi, London-based Glaxo, and Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis are among the other companies making the vaccine.
As many as 2 billion people, or 30 percent of the world’s population, may become infected by the new virus as it spreads globally, according to the Geneva-based WHO. While fewer than 0.5 percent of sufferers may need hospitalization, those who do may require critical care for up to three weeks, overwhelming intensive-care units.
Concern that vaccine bought by governments might not get used by their people may make countries more inclined to share supplies with poorer nations, said Marie-Paule Kieny, director of the WHO’s Initiative for Vaccine Research.
“Some countries may take a more altruistic view now,” she said. “We will see this fear of not being able to use all of it and concern of public money being spent unwisely, and you may now start to see generosity mushrooming.”
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Reader Comments (1)
Why is it so often presumed that mutations increase virus severity ?
But once the virus has infected about a third of the world's population - which is what we expect - it will find less 'susceptibles'. That is when mutants will have a selective advantage.'
True, but this is exactly what happens every year with our normal seasonal flu strains and that's why we do our yearly "updates" to the seasonal flu vaccine: to account for each years new "mutant strain".
Mutation during subsequent epidemic waves is nothing special about H1N1v: It's just the normal thing flu viruses (seasonal and pandemic) regularly do every year to escape increasing host immunity and it's called "genetic drift".
Fact is: Despite it's frequently and constantly mutating nature, the severity (pathogenicity) of the seasonal flu strains remains remarkably stable.
Never have we observed any of the many mutated variants of seasonal flu turn into something more dangerous: the severity of seasonal flu has been remarkedly stable over decades (probably centuries) despite the fact that it keeps mutating at a high rate.