[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: European Health Agencies, Using Many Vaccine Suppliers, Are Facing No Shortages

[swiggard at comcast.net]

The article below from NYTimes.com 
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One reason why I am so steamed about the flu vaccine scandal - it was entirely preventable. Here's how.
Peace and health,
Bill

swiggard at comcast.net


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European Health Agencies, Using Many Vaccine Suppliers, Are Facing No Shortages

October 23, 2004
 By ELIZABETH ROSENTHAL 



 

PARIS, Oct. 22 - While patients are panicking over a
shortage of flu vaccine in the United States, vaccination
programs in Europe are progressing smoothly with a good
supply of medicine, health authorities say. 

"The World Health Organization has not heard of any
shortages in Europe, and it's very, very likely we would
have heard if there were problems," said Dr. Nedret
Emiroglu of the World Health Organization Regional Office
for Europe. 

Unlike childhood vaccinations, which are standardized and
tracked by the international health agency, flu vaccine is
bought from several manufacturers by individual countries
and prescribed somewhat differently in each place. 

The crisis in the United States was set off when a factory
in Liverpool, England, owned by the biotech company Chiron,
lost its license to produce vaccine for the season after
some batches were found to be contaminated by bacteria. The
United States government and individual doctors had
contracted with Chiron to provide 50 million doses of flu
vaccine this year, nearly half of the national requirement.


Most countries contract with several makers, in part to
avoid critical dependence on any one supplier. And though
countries other than the United States had placed orders
with Chiron for a smaller part of their vaccine needs, no
other country was so dependent on the Liverpool factory. 

In England, for example, the National Health Service bought
the 14 million doses of flu vaccine that it needed from
five or six suppliers, said Alison Langley, a spokeswoman
for the Department of Health. Two million of those doses
were to have come from the Chiron factory in Liverpool.
"But we were able to make that up with additional purchases
from elsewhere," Ms. Langley said. 

The Institute for Public Health in Slovenia bought its
180,000 doses from Aventis Pasteur, based in Lyon, France,
as well as from Chiron. But it has already taken delivery
of its full supply, and "it is not so common to get flu
shots" in the country, said Bojana Leskovar, a public
relations consultant to the Health Ministry. 

In Western Europe, as in the United States, flu vaccines
are recommended as part of national vaccination strategy.
In much of Eastern Europe it is treated as a personal
choice, Dr. Emiroglu said. 

Flu vaccine is constituted differently each year depending
on what strains of influenza international health
organizations predict will be most common. So doses from
2003 cannot be used in 2004. Also, because the vaccine
takes many months to grow and test, factories tend to make
only slightly more than the number of doses that are
ordered for a season. New vaccine cannot be created now to
make up for shortfalls. 

Congress Redirects Its Flu Shots 

By The New York Times 

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 - The
leadership in Congress on Friday ordered the remaining flu
vaccines for those who work in the Capitol to be donated to
Washington. "This is the right thing to do,'' Senator Bill
Frist of Tennessee, the Republican leader, said in a
statement. 

About 3,000 vaccinations will be given to the District of
Columbia's Hospital Association and the District of
Columbia Department of Health for dispersal to people at
risk of serious illness from flu. 

Members and employees of Congress were able to obtain a
vaccination quickly and at no charge from the Capitol's
attending physician, who had urged all 535 lawmakers to get
the vaccines even if they were young and healthy. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/23/health/23vaccine.html?ex=1099534125&ei=1&en=2836896ca58b21b9


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