| PANDEMIC ALERT LEVEL |
| 123456 |
| Tracking the next pandemic: Avian Flu Talk |
Panvax approved in Australia as Avian Flu Vaccine |
Post Reply 
|
| Author | |
Guests 
Guest Group 
|
 Post Options
 Thanks(0)
 Quote Reply
 Topic: Panvax approved in Australia as Avian Flu VaccinePosted: June 21 2008 at 8:16am |
|
H5N1 News: Australia Approves Vaccine; Sanofi to Donate to WHO Stockpile; HHS Contracts to Develop Rapid Diagnostic Tests On June 17, 2008, CIDRAP News reported that the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (similar to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration) approved Panvax®, an H5N1 avian influenza vaccine developed by CSL Limited.1 According to a June 17 CSL press release, the vaccine “can be used only when an influenza pandemic has been officially declared by the Australian Government in consultation with the World Health Organization.”2 The Australian government contributed more than $7 million to the development of the Panvax® vaccine and has stockpiled an additional 1.2 million doses of a “foreign-made vaccine.”1 According to CIDRAP News, Panvax® is a split-virus vaccine that requires two doses for efficacy, and the vaccine performed well in safety and immunogenicity clinical trials. Panvax® is produced in eggs and includes an adjuvant to enhance the effect of the vaccine. It is estimated that mass production of a “precisely matched” version of the egg-based vaccine “will take 4 to 6 months after the identification of a pandemic flu strain.”1 In a related CIDRAP News report on June 16, sanofi pasteur has pledged to “give 60 million doses of H5N1 influenza vaccine over 3 years to the World Health Organization (WHO) for a planned stockpile to help poor countries in the event of an influenza pandemic.”3 This comes a year after GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) promised 50 million doses of its H5N1 vaccine (which was approved in May by the European Union for marketing) for the WHO stockpile. Like the GSK vaccine, the sanofi vaccine requires two doses. The combined total of the two donations would be enough for the WHO to vaccinate approximately 55 million people. The WHO stockpile was initiated in 2007 in response to concerns posed by “Indonesia and other developing countries about lack of access to commercial H5N1 vaccines.”3 In other news, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “has awarded $12.9 million for the development of low-cost influenza tests that can detect and differentiate seasonal human influenza viruses from avian influenza within three hours.”4 The HHS release indicates that new, rapid diagnostics will “be performed in a hospital or a commercial laboratory and would expedite the diagnosis of a large number of patients” for both pandemic and seasonal influenza.4 Current technologies can take up to 24 hours for accurate identification of H5N1. HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt commented that “early detection will aid in improving patient survival, overall health outcomes, and use of containment measures” during an influenza pandemic.4 Contracts for development of influenza diagnostic tests were awarded to Nanogen, Inc., and Meso Scale Diagnostics, LLC. Each company received an initial $6.5 million. However, the contracts allow funding for up to $10.4 million for Nanogen and $12.1 million for Meso Scale Diagnostics over three years. CDC and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) awarded the contracts jointly. Kunal Rambhia References
MC |
|
 |
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: July 03 2008 at 1:36pm |
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/589716Prioritization of Influenza Pandemic Vaccination to Minimize Years of Life LostMark A. Miller,1 Cecile Viboud,1 Donald R. Olson,2 Rebecca F. Grais,1 Maia A. Rabaa,1 and Lone Simonsen3 1Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland; 2New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, New York; 3Department of Global Health, School of Public Health and Health Services, George Washington University, Washington, DC Background. How to allocate limited vaccine supplies in the event of an influenza pandemic is currently under debate. Conventional vaccination strategies focus on those at highest risk for severe outcomes, including seniors, but do not consider (1) the signature pandemic pattern in which mortality risk is shifted to younger ages, (2) likely reduced vaccine response in seniors, and (3) differences in remaining years of life with age. Methods. We integrated these factors to project the age-specific years of life lost (YLL) and saved in a future pandemic, on the basis of mortality patterns from 3 historical pandemics, age-specific vaccine efficacy, and the 2000 US population structure. Results. For a 1918-like scenario, the absolute mortality risk is highest in people <45 years old; in contrast, seniors (those Conclusions. Our findings shift the focus of pandemic vaccination strategies onto younger populations and illustrate the need for real-time surveillance of mortality patterns in a future pandemic. Flexible setting of vaccination priority is essential to minimize mortality. Received 1 November 2007; accepted 14 February 2008; electronically published 17 June 2008. |
|
|
|
|
Post Reply
|
|
Tweet
|
| Forum Jump | Forum Permissions You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You can vote in polls in this forum |
Topic Options
65 years old) have the highest mortality risk in the 1957 and 1968 scenarios. The greatest YLL savings would be achieved by targeting different age groups in each scenario; people <45 years old in the 1918 scenario, people 45-64 years old in the 1968 scenario, and people >45 years old in the 1957 scenario.