The World Health Organisation issued a statement about vaccines to fight the new H1N1 virus that continues to spread around the world.
Following are excerpts from that statement, available in full at www.who.int:
Is there an effective vaccine already available?
No, but work is already underway to develop such a vaccine.
How else can we fight pandemic disease?
Other measures include anti-viral drugs, social distancing and personal hygiene.
Does regular flu vaccine work against h1n1?
The best scientific evidence available today is incomplete but suggests that seasonal vaccines will confer little or no protection against Influenza A(H1N1).
Why continue to make seasonal flu vaccine?
WHO has not recommended stopping production of seasonal influenza vaccine because this seasonal influenza causes three million to five million cases of severe illness each year, and kills from 250,000 to 500,000 people. Continued immunisation against seasonal influenza is therefore important. Moreover, stopping seasonal vaccine production immediately would not allow a pandemic vaccine to be made quicker.
How is a pandemic vaccine made?
A vaccine for the Influenza A(H1N1) virus will be produced using licensed influenza vaccine processes in which the vaccine viruses are grown either in eggs or cells. Candidate vaccine strains have been identified and prepared by the (US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention) in Atlanta. These strains have now been received by the other WHO Collaborating Centres which have also started preparation of vaccine candidate viruses. Once developed, these strains will be distributed to all interested manufacturers on request. Availability is anticipated by the middle of this month.
How quickly could h1n1 vaccine be made?
The first doses of Influenza A(H1N1) vaccine could be available in five to six months from identification of the pandemic strain. The regulatory approval will be conducted in parallel with the manufacturing process.
Which manufacturers could make it?
There are currently more than a dozen vaccine manufacturers with licenses to produce influenza vaccines. The vaccine strain will be available to each of them for vaccine production.
What is the global vaccine-making capacity?
While this cannot be assessed precisely since there is much uncertainty regarding the appropriate formulation for an effective and protective vaccine, a conservative estimate of global capacity is at least 1 to two billion doses per year.
Are all vaccine makers in rich countries?
More than 90 per cent of the global capacity today is located in Europe and in North America.
However, during the past five years, other regions have begun to acquire the technology to produce influenza vaccines. Six manufacturers in developing countries have done so.
How should flu vaccines be stored?
The vaccine should be stored under refrigerated conditions at between two and eight degrees Celsuis.
Who will get priority for vaccination?
This decision is made by national authorities. As guidance, WHO will be tracking the evolution of the pandemic in real-time and making its findings public. As information becomes available, it may be possible to better define high-risk groups and to target vaccination for those groups, thus ensuring that limited supplies are used to greatest effect.
How much seasonal vaccine is now used annually?
The current annual demand is for less than 500 million doses per year.
Will seasonal flu vaccines still be available?
At this time there is no recommendation to stop production of seasonal influenza vaccine.
What if the pandemic level is raised to six out of six?
Declaration by WHO of phase six of pandemic alert does not by itself automatically translate into a request for vaccine manufacturers to immediately stop production of seasonal influenza vaccine and to start production of a pandemic vaccine. Since seasonal influenza can also cause severe disease, WHO will take several important considerations such as the epidemiology and the severity of the disease when deciding when to formally make recommendations on this matter.