Europe faces delays in seasonal flu vaccine supplies
Date: 12.7.2006
Dr David Salisbury, director of immunization at the Department of Health, said it may take longer to get the vaccine and Britain may not get all the 15.2 million doses it requested.
"It is prudent to take a view that the delay could lead to less vaccine being available than we would like," he told a news conference.
When asked if it was a problem only for Britain he said, "It is a Europe-wide issue."
Vaccine manufacturers alerted Britain to the delay after experiencing problems growing one of the three virus strains that have been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for this year's seasonal flu vaccine.
Paul Raynsford, chairman of the UK Vaccine Industry Group, said the full extent of the problem and the total quantity of vaccine available will not be known until the end of July.
"It is a yield issue. It is not producing as much as we expected," he said.
Leading vaccine manufacturers for Europe, which include Novartis Vaccines, GlaxoSmithKline, Solvay Healthcare and Wyeth Vaccines, have substituted another similar strain of virus which is growing better. They will also be extending their manufacturing period to overcome the delay in deliveries.
The substituted strain of virus will have no impact on the quality of the vaccine, according to Salisbury.
He said doctors in Britain have been informed of the problem and have been advised to prioritize patients to make sure that priority cases, particularly those over 65 years old who would benefit from the vaccine most, receive it first.
Seasonal flu vaccine is prepared each year in response to surveillance data that shows shifts in the activity of viruses circulating in Europe and Asia.
Each of the strains is chosen for their ability to inhibit infections with dozens of different but closely related viruses. But different strains grow at different rates during the manufacturing process.
Raynsford said the virus strain known as H3N2 did not grow as well as expected. It was a new strain added to the 2006/2007 vaccine.
Seasonal influenza kills between 250,000-500,000 people around the world each year, according to the WHO.
"Source":[ http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2006-06-29T124841Z_01_L29716206_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-FLU-DC.XML&archived=False]
