Canada may move up H1N1 vaccine rollout
Reported October 08, 2009
Federal health officials are considering shipping swine flu vaccine to the provinces earlier than scheduled, CBC News has learned.
The plan is to issue an interim order on Oct. 19 to begin shipping up to five million doses of the H1N1 vaccine.
The goal is to have the vaccine ready for distribution a week later on Oct. 26 at least two weeks ahead of the previously scheduled rollout.
The news comes as reported cases of H1N1 are increasing across Canada. In Ontario, 200 samples of serious influenza-like cases have been tested each day this week.
Publicly, federal health officials say the vaccine won’t be coming earlier than planned. But CBC News has learned several provinces have been hearing about the possibility of early vaccine delivery for weeks and now are planning to have H1N1 vaccine clinics ready to go by Oct. 26.
Head start ‘significant’
Pushing up the timetable by even two weeks can make a big difference, said Dr. Michael Gardam, director of infectious diseases prevention and control at the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion.
“We normally think about of waves of flu occurring over anywhere from six to 10 weeks. So if you get an extra two-week head start, that’s significant,” said Gardam.
“It means you could theoretically prevent a whole bunch of people from getting the flu, if they actually chose to get the flu shot.”
Pregnant women and health care workers will be at the front of the line for the first doses of vaccine.
The interim order hinges on quality-control testing of each lot of vaccine as it comes out of GlaxoSmithKline’s plant in Quebec City. If there is a problem with quality control, the earlier rollout could be cancelled.
On Monday, the U.S. started its swine flu program, using a nasal spray version that is not approved for use in Canada.
Source : CBCnews