Malta among first countries to get pandemic flu vaccine

Malta will be one of the first countries to receive the vaccine against the virus causing the dreaded influenza pandemic once this is developed, Health Minister Louis Deguara said yesterday.

This, he explained, was because when the government issued the tender for the annual influenza vaccine back in March it imposed a condition that the company would also have to supply the pandemic vaccine immediately this was produced.

This could be sooner than has been thought so far. Dr Deguara said an Italian minister who spoke during a news bulletin this week announced that the vaccines might be ready less than three months after the pandemic hits.

Dr Deguara was speaking during a press conference when he announced that a leaflet - with extensive information about the influenza pandemic - will start being distributed to all households this week.

The leaflet will enable people to distinguish between an influenza pandemic and seasonal influenza that strikes annually. This, the minister insisted, was of special importance and was intended to ensure that people do not start panicking when the seasonal influenza strikes this winter.

The booklet includes answers to a number of questions and concerns that have taxed people's minds.

Dr Deguara said the information contained in the leaflet was based on the questions people put when they called the influenza pandemic information line.

The minister said the government had ordered vaccine doses to cover 90 per cent of the population. A plan is in place to mass vaccinate over a period of four days. He said certain people were either allergic to the vaccine or could not take it because of some medical condition.

Malta is one of only 41 countries that have abided by a number of criteria established by the World Health Organisation in relation to the pandemic, the minister said. He added that the local pandemic preparedness plan is expected to be completed next week. An inter-ministerial committee had been set up to coordinate different sectors.

The government has ordered the antivirial Tamiflu to cover 25 per cent of the population, as recommended by the WHO. However, antivirals need to be taken within 48 hours from the onset of symptoms to be effective.

The uptake of the annual influenza jab being offered for free to certain sectors of the population has been reported to be very good.

In fact, the number of people who got vaccinated in a week was almost double the number of vaccinations administered over four months last year.

The 45,000 doses of vaccines which have already arrived are expected to run out by tomorrow but another batch of 105,000 is expected to arrive at the end of the month.

This means that after tomorrow the vaccination process will stop until the next batch of vaccines arrives.

Additionally, a number of people have ordered the vaccine privately and it is estimated that between 60 and 65 per cent of the population will be vaccinated this year. This is a big leap from the usual annual coverage of 13 per cent.