# 1729
While a handful of nations have been stockpiling small quantities of a pre-pandemic vaccine, one that might offer some protection against a future pandemic strain, few have openly discussed how and under what circumstances they would dispense it.
It isn't an easy decision.
The immunogenic effects of a vaccine begin to wear off after a few months, and so giving a vaccine too soon would diminish its effects. But vaccines also have a shelf life, usually only a year or two. If you've stockpiled them, you eventually have to use them . . . or lose them.
There are also concerns that administering a prepandemic vaccine might result in some adverse reactions, with memories of the beleaguered 1976 Swine Flu vaccination campaign still looming large after more than 30 years.
Dr. George Kassianos, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) immunization spokesman, is well published in the medical press, and serves on the editorial board of a number of medical journals.
A Hat tip to Candles on PFP for this article.
RCGP calls for pandemic flu vaccine programme
29-Feb-08
The DoH should consider vaccinating all patients in at-risk groups with a pre-pandemic H5N1 vaccine to help protect against an influenza pandemic, the RCGP has advised.
The call comes after GlaxoSmithKline received the first positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency for the use of its H5N1 pre-pandemic vaccine, called Prepandrix.
Results from a series of clinical trials have shown that Prepandrix offers protection against a number of H5N1 variant strains currently circulating.
Dr George Kassianos, RCGP immunisation spokesman and Berkshire GP, said the DoH should look to introduce the pre-pandemic vaccine into the immunisation programme in time for this September. Patients in at-risk groups and healthcare workers should be targetted, he said.
'We cannot rely on just anti-viral drugs to help fight a pandemic as they are an emergency measure. In the long-term, it is better to vaccinate with a pre-pandemic vaccine,' he added.
A DoH spokesperson said: 'The science underpinning the further development and potential use of pre-pandemic vaccine is cutting edge and has just been reviewed by the UK, and other international experts.
'We are considering the findings and the implications for our policy to inform future decisions and Prepandrix will be one of the vaccines we will be considering in these decisions.'
In 2006, the DoH stockpiled 3.3 million cases of an H5N1 pre-pandemic vaccine for healthcare workers.
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