|
BANGKOK, Dec
4 (Bernama) -- Despite frantic research and development of the
H5N1 vaccine, it could take at least four months for the first
doses of vaccine to emerge from factories and reach affected
populations in the event of a pandemic, a global vaccine
research forum heard today.
Britain's Health Department director of Immunization David M.
Salisbury said it could take up to a year for sufficient vaccine
to be produced to allow two doses for each member of the
countries to be vaccinated.
"During this time, at the least the first pandemic wave will be
over, and the second and third waves, should they occur, may
also be over before significant numbers of individuals can be
vaccinated," he told the Seventh World Health Organization’s
(WHO) Global Vaccine Research Forum here.
According to the WHO, the H5N1 strain of avian influenza had
killed 154 people in the last three years, with Indonesia
topping the list with 57 casualties while millions of poultry
had been culled to contain the virus in animals.
In the event
of an influenza pandemic, global spread of infection would occur
|
within a
matter of weeks, Salisbury said, adding that past experience
showed that post-pandemic vaccination did little to protect
humankind.
He said the authorities must also come out with a priority list
of who should get vaccinated first and suggested that health
care personnel and school children be vaccinated first.
"Children can easily get infected. So, it will be better to give
them the vaccine first as they are all in school at the same
time," he added.
Malik Peiris from Hong Kong University's Department of
Microbiology, said that at the moment, the WHO had four
candidate vaccines undergoing various stages of development and
clinical trials.
He said since
the bird flu was first detected in Hong Kong in 1997, the virus
had caused widespread disease in poultry in many countries in
Asia, Africa and Europe.
"In countries like Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, the virus
has been successfully stamped out as it was detected early and
aggressive control measures were implemented," he said. |
But in
countries where recognition was delayed and the virus
established itself in backyard poultry flocks, eradication had
proved extremely difficult, Peiris said, adding that active
surveillance of the poultry industry and live poultry market was
necessary.
"Some studies show that the virus is more ubiquitous than
previously supposed. Given the unprecedented geographical extent
of the area with endemic infection in poultry, it's likely the
H5N1 virus is going to pose a long-term threat to humans and
poultry," he added.
Peiris said although human-to-human transmission cases remained
rare, the possible adaptation of the H5N1 virus to more
efficient transmission among humans continued to pose a
significant pandemic threat.
WHO's Alejandro J. Costa said it would require between US$3
billion and US$10 billion to implement a global pandemic
influenza action plan but the first results might only be seen
in the time-frame of three to five years.
He said that besides major pharmaceutical companies licensed to
produce vaccines in case of a pandemic, the WHO was also
evaluating the capacity in individual countries.-- BERNAMA
|
