Australia’s Vaccine Shortage

 

 

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Flu season in the southern Hemisphere runs from around April to September, usually peaking in June or July.  

 

Despite the recent negative publicity surrounding a suspicious number of adverse effects among young children receiving CSL’s Fluvax, the demand for flu vaccine this year has been described as `unprecedented’. 

 

In fact, demand has outstripped supply, at least temporarily.   This report from the Herald Sun.

 

 

Victorians turned away because of shortage of seasonal influenza vaccine

Last Updated: May 07, 2010

THOUSANDS of Victorians wanting protection from influenza are being turned away by doctors because of a nationwide shortage of the seasonal flu vaccine.

 

As stocks run out, Victorian pharmacies have started waiting lists for people desperate to have the seasonal flu vaccine, which protects against swine flu as well as the two seasonal flu types A and B.

 

The main manufacturer of the vaccine, Australia's CSL, completed a fresh batch that was being rushed to wholesalers on Friday in the hope it would filter into the market over the next week.

 

A spokeswoman for the company warned there could be more shortages by the end of the month as overseas supplies were further delayed until June, leaving no time for CSL to produce additional stocks to fill the shortfall.

(Continue . . . )

 

 

The New Zealand Ministry of Health reports in their latest influenza update that the first shipments of European manufactured vaccine are now arriving, and advise that the recent shortages there may soon be coming to an end.

 

 

6 May 2010

Pandemic Influenza H1N1 2009 (swine flu) – Update 184

Surveillance data from GP practices and Healthline for the week ending 30 April shows a continued increase in both the number of people calling healthline for free health advice on influenza-like illness, and visiting the doctor with an influenza-like illness. While numbers are still below baseline, this continued increase could signal the start of a higher level of pandemic influenza activity in New Zealand.

<SNIP>

Vaccine Supply

Air freight is now returning to normal, following the widespread closure of European airports in mid-April caused by the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland. Those airport closures created a backlog for air freight, which delayed the delivery of seasonal flu vaccine from France to New Zealand over the past few weeks.

 

Large shipments of vaccine are now possible, with the first (of 108,000 doses) arriving in New Zealand today (Thursday May 6).
This enables our seasonal flu vaccine stockpile to return to a state where it is well stocked - and in the next week will enable us to resume advertising to encourage people to access the protection provided by seasonal vaccination.

 

Having a healthy stockpile will also enable GPs and other key providers in the community to resume scheduling "vaccination clinics" - a practice we advised against in recent weeks when vaccines were in short supply.

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Report: Spain & Germany Want To Cut Vaccine Orders

 

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Last August, in a blog entitled Public Health’s Biggest Pandemic Challenge, I wrote of my concerns that the uptake of the H1N1 vaccine would be far less than most officials hoped.   In part, I wrote:

 

Given the forces lined up against it, of all of the challenges that face public health officials this fall and winter (and those are considerable), it may well be that winning the hearts and minds of the public on the safety and wisdom of vaccination will prove to be the toughest.

 

Fast-forward four months, and with the fall wave of the virus apparently on the wane, the public’s appetite for the vaccine is diminishing in many parts of the world.  

 

There are already talks over what the US and Canada should do with their excess vaccine, and Reuters reported last week that at least two countries would like to `cut’ their order.

 

Of course, if a 3rd wave should appear this spring, or the virus acquire more virulence, a lot of people are going to rue the day they decided to forego the jab.

 

This report from SupplyManagement.com.

 

 

Swine flu vaccine orders ‘to be cut’

21 December 2009 | Jake Kanter

Germany and Spain are reportedly in talks with swine flu vaccine suppliers to reduce deliveries.

 

Government officials from both countries have met pharmaceutical vendors with a view to cutting back orders and potentially returning excess supplies as a result of low uptake.

 

The number of reported swine flu cases has fallen across Western Europe and earlier this month the World Health Organization said “influenza-like activity has peaked or passed its peak” in the region.

 

Reuters reported that German states have been in talks with suppliers without any resolution as yet. In addition, the government is looking to open talks with other countries interested in taking on excess supplies.

(Continue  . . . )

 

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