Influenza A viruses mixing in susceptible hosts
I have been waiting with great interest to see what would happen in the wrong northern hemisphere 2009-2010 winter season with the Mexican – sorry; politically incorrect, aka pandemic H1N1 – flu – and it has pretty much happened, and it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been.
From ProMED:
INFLUENZA PANDEMIC (H1N1) (05): VACCINE UPDATE
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A ProMED-mail post
Date: Mon 11 Jan 2010
Source: Reuters News [edited]Countries re-think swine flu vaccine orders
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The United States said on Monday [11 Jan 2010] it had cut in half its order for influenza pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus vaccine from Australia’s CSL Ltd, but said it is not certain how far orders from other suppliers will be trimmed. While U.S. officials are still calculating how much swine flu vaccine they will need, it is becoming increasingly clear that the United States will not need all 251 million doses it ordered from 5 companies. …
Several other governments have started to cut orders for [pandemic] H1N1 vaccines because the pandemic has not turned out to be as deadly as originally feared and most people need only one dose, not 2, to be fully protected.
…Germany’s Bild newspaper reported that the German government had agreed to cut its vaccine order with GlaxoSmithKline Plc by one-3rd. The newspaper said the agreement would save states about 133 million euros (USD 193 million). On Friday [8 Jan 2010], Britain said it was in talks with Glaxo about reducing supplies. ….
…While the pandemic is slowing down in North America, the World Health Organization said on Monday [11 Jan 2010] the virus was still active in parts of central, eastern and southeastern Europe, North Africa and South Asia. Governments are torn between trying to encourage companies to make influenza vaccine and wasting money on doses that are never given. But bulk antigen — the vaccine before it is put into a syringe – — can be stored and might be used in next year’s seasonal vaccine.
The U.S. government was still promoting vaccination, reminding people that influenza is unpredictable and that [pandemic] H1N1 could come back in a 3rd wave. One potentially large market for the vaccine is children. Children under 10 need 2 doses of vaccine to be fully protected and some U.S. school districts were planning more vaccination clinics this week to get children a 2nd dose. …
[Byline: Maggie Fox]– —
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Mary MarshallCommunicated by:
ProMED-mail
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