WHO cuts swine flu vaccine production estimate

SWITZERLAND: The World Health Organization said Thursday that pharmaceutical firms can produce only three billion doses of swine flu vaccines a year, covering less than half of the global population.

However, tests on the vaccine show that just one jab would offer sufficient protection against the A(H1N1) virus and that the vaccine is as safe as seasonal flu vaccines.

“Outcomes of trials completed to date suggest that pandemic vaccines are as safe as seasonal influenza vaccines,” the UN agency said in a statement, adding that side effects arising from the pandemic vaccines should be “similar” to those observed in seasonal flu vaccines.

These symptoms include fever, headache, muscle or joint aches, and should be mild and last up to two days.

Tests on the drugs also indicate that only one dose would be needed, effectively doubling the number of people who can be covered.

This helps in part to relieve pressure on stocks, especially since annual production would cover less than half of the world’s 6.8 billion population.

In May, the WHO had forecast a weekly output of 94.3 million doses, or an annual capacity of five billion doses.

But pharmaceutical companies have since slashed production forecasts due to poorer than expected yields from the so-called “seed virus” strains developed by WHO-approved laboratories. The WHO acknowledged that global manufacturing capacity is “limited, inadequate and not readily augmented.”

Amid growing fears that poorer nations will not get enough vaccines, the United States this month led nine countries to pledge to make 10 percent of their swine flu vaccine supply available to other nations in need.

The WHO said it would be coordinating the distribution of the donated vaccines, with an initial 300 million doses of vaccines to be sent to more than 90 countries. GENEVA, Friday, AFP