The U.S. is racing to make huge supplies of swine flu vaccine -- and trying to figure out who needs it most -- even as the pandemic sweeps the globe.
The biggest question -- whether to go ahead and try to vaccinate all 300 million U.S. residents -- won't be answered until the last minute. If the answer is "yes," it will mean a gargantuan effort.
The U.S. government already has sunk well over than $1 billion into production of a swine flu vaccine. What has that bought? A lot, says Robin Robinson, PhD, director of BARDA, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) branch responsible for ensuring production, procurement, and delivery of biomedical supplies crucial to national preparedness.
If all goes as planned, Robinson says, manufacturers will have 60 million vaccine doses on hand at the end of October, with 100 million more doses by the end of November and 80 million more doses each month thereafter through March 2010
The French Government is developing secret plans to impose mandatory vaccination of the entire French population, allegedly against possible Swine Flu disease according to reports leaked in a French newspaper. The plan is without precedent and even defies recommended public health advice.
According to a report in the May 30 edition of the French newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche, the Sarkozy government has authorized spending of an estimated €1 billion to buy vaccines allegedly to combat or protect against H1N1 Swine Flu virus. The only problem is that to date neither the WHO nor the US Government’s Center for Diseases Control (CDC) have succeeded to isolate, photograph with an electron microscope and chemically classify the H1N1 Influenza A virus. There is no scientifically published evidence that French virologists have done so either. To mandate drugs for a putative disease that has not even been characterized is dubious to say the least.
Germany plans to order 50 million swine flu vaccination units
Germany's 16 state health ministers on Tuesday agreed on a plan to order some 50 million units of flu vaccine units. That's enough to immunize 25 million people against the H1N1 swine flu - a person has to be injected twice in order for the vaccine to be effective. Together with current vaccine supplies against the H1N1 virus, the health ministers say they will have enough vaccines to provide protection for 30 percent of the German population.
727 cases of swine flu have been reported in Germany, none were fatal. Authorities fear a mutation of the swine flu virus, could prove deadly.
How quickly will pandemic influenza A (H1N1) vaccines be available for use?
The very first doses of influenza A (H1N1) vaccine usable to immunize people, from one or more manufacturers, are expected as early as September 2009.
What implications does the declaration of a pandemic (phase 6) have on influenza vaccine production?
When the WHO Director-General declared the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic on 11 June 2009, she noted that production of seasonal influenza vaccines would be completed soon and that full industrial production capacity would then be available to ensure the largest possible supply of pandemic vaccine in the months to come.
Which manufacturers will make pandemic influenza A (H1N1) vaccines?
There are currently around twenty vaccine manufacturers with licenses to produce seasonal influenza vaccines. There are other qualified vaccine manufacturers who are preparing to make influenza A (H1N1) vaccine, but do not yet have a licensed seasonal influenza vaccine.
What is the global manufacturing capacity for a potential influenza A (H1N1) pandemic vaccine?
Based on a global survey made by WHO on 15 May 2009, a maximum of 4.9 billion doses potentially could be produced in 12 months, but only if several assumptions are met. First, full global manufacturing capacity is devoted to this production. Second, production yields for influenza A (H1N1) vaccine are similar to those usually obtained for seasonal vaccines. Third, each manufacturer uses the vaccine formulation that is most "dose-sparing" (i.e. using a smaller quantity of active principle). A more conservative estimate of global capacity is at least 1 to 2 billion doses per year. The numbers of persons who might be vaccinated will not be known until it is determined whether one or two doses of the vaccine will be needed to achieve protection.
What technologies will be used to grow pandemic influenza A (H1N1) viruses to make vaccines?
Most of these vaccines will be produced using chicken eggs, while a few manufacturers are using cell culture technology for vaccine production.
How is the production capacity for influenza vaccines distributed geographically?
Around 70% of the global seasonal influenza vaccine production capacity today is located in Europe and North America, with further significant manufacturing capacity in Australia, Japan and China. During the past three years, six manufacturers in developing countries have begun to acquire the technology to produce influenza vaccines and have received technical and financial support from WHO. Since May 2009, five additional new producers have joined this initiative.
Will there be enough pandemic influenza A (H1N1) vaccine for everyone?
When pandemic vaccine first becomes available, it is anticipated that the demand will be greater than the supply. This gap will narrow as more vaccine becomes available over time.
Who will receive priority for vaccination?
WHO is working with the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization and partners on the options for deciding in which target groups vaccination should begin first. At its July 7 meeting, SAGE recommended that health care workers worldwide should be immunized as a first priority (see: Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 briefing note 2 below). Ultimately, national authorities will identify priority groups for vaccination based on circumstances within the country.
Will developing countries have access to pandemic influenza vaccines?
The WHO Director-General has called for international solidarity to provide fair and equitable access for all countries to pandemic vaccine when it becomes available. WHO has requested that manufacturers set aside future influenza A (H1N1) vaccines for developing country populations, through donations or affordable pricing arrangementsThe drug Tamiflu which is officially recommended by the WHO as treatment to ‘ameliorate’ the symptoms of possible Swine Flu or H1N1 Influenza A as it has been renamed, is itself highly toxic. Health Canada informed Canadians of international reports of hallucinations and abnormal behaviour, including self harm, in patients taking the antiviral drug Tamiflu. In some cases death was the result and severe lung complications are widely reported associated with Tamiflu, the drug whose main financial benefactor is believed to be its largest stockholder, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
The Truth Behind Swine Flu : Pharmaceutical Giants Are Making BillionsThe following is a list of the 50 largest
pharmaceutical and
biotech companies ranked by healthcare revenue as of 2008
[update].
| Revenue Rank 2008 | Company | Country | Total Revenues (USD millions) | Healthcare R&D 2008 (USD millions) | Net income/ (loss) 2008 (USD millions) | Employees 2008 |
|---|
| 1 | Pfizer (with Wyeth) | U.S. | 70,818 | NA | 12,760 | 137,127 |
| 2 | Johnson & Johnson | U.S. | 61,095 | NA | 10,576 | 119,200 |
| 3 | GlaxoSmithKline | United Kingdom | 45,447 | 6,373 | 10,432 | 103,483 |
| 4 | Hoffmann–La Roche | Switzerland | 40,315 | NA | 8,135 | 78,604 |
| 5 | Sanofi-Aventis | France | 39,997 | NA | 7,204 | 99,495 |
| 6 | Novartis | Switzerland | 39,800 | NA | 11,946 | 98,200 |
| 7 | AstraZeneca | UK/Sweden | 29,559 | NA | 5,959 | 67,400 |
| 8 | Abbott Laboratories | U.S. | 25,914 | NA | 3,606 | 68,697 |
| 9 | Merck & Co. | U.S. | (2008) 23,850 | 4,678 | 7,808 | 74,372 |
| 10 | Bristol-Myers Squibb | U.S. | 19,977 | NA | 2,165 | 42,000 |
| 11 | Eli Lilly and Company | U.S. | 18,634 | NA9 | 2,953 | 40,600 |
| 12 | Amgen | U.S. | 14,268 | 3,366 | 2,950 | 48,000 |
| 13 | Boehringer Ingelheim | Germany | 13,284 | 1,977 | 2,163 | 43,000 |
| 14 | Baxter International | U.S. | 10,378 | 614 | 1,397 | 38,428 |
| 15 | Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. | Japan | 10,284 | 1,620 | 2,870 | 15,000 |
| 16 | Genentech | U.S. | 9,284 | 1,773 | 2,113 | 33,500 |
| 17 | Procter & Gamble | U.S. | 8,964 | n/a | 10,340 | 29,258 |
| 18 | Teva Pharmaceutical Industries | Israel | 8,408 | 495 | 546 | 26,670 |
| 19 | Astellas Pharma | Japan | 7,850 | 1,435 | 1,122 | 23,613 |
| 20 | Daiichi Sankyo | Japan | 7,158 | 1,459 | 671 | 20,100 |
Sursa : Wikipedia, WHO, Bloomberg, Global Research, dw-world
