WHO experts: Just a single dosage of swine flu vaccine is sufficient

vIndianz.com (Oct 31, 2009) — A single dosage of swine flu vaccine is sufficient to vaccinate adults and children over 10 against the deadly disease tension, the World Health Organization said Friday

swine flu dosage The international body’s professional group – recognized as SAGE – said that even as more data on children between 6 months and 10 years are required, countries that have made vaccinating kids a main concern can too manage a single dose to make sure that as many as likely are immunized rapidly.

“The SAGE advice (for children under 10) can amend as more information come in,” said WHO vaccine Chief Marie-Paule Kieny.

For now, she said, “the priority must be to provide them at least one dosage of vaccine currently, and to cover up as many of them as achievable.”

The expert group, which held a three-day conference in Geneva this week, said medical regulators must have the ultimate say on which vaccines can be administered as a solitary shot.

But its advice is an imperative sign for those regulators – mainly in the emergent world – that haven’t so far determined how many doses should be necessary.

Europe’s drug authority EMEA last week said the swine flu vaccines it has approved should be given in two doses, minimum three weeks apart, to each and every age group. EMEA noted that existing data were too “incomplete” to permit the agency to advise one dose.

Swine flu has killed at least 5,700 people globally ever since the A(H1N1) strain appeared in April, according to WHO’s count.

Governments in the northern hemisphere are under demands to carry out their immunization campaigns earlier than the winter flu season. The number of doses the system advice will play an important role in determining how far obtainable vaccine stocks will extend.

The experts also suggested to WHO that pregnant women use those approved vaccines deemed secure by regulators. The suggestion is based on the high risk that swine flu poses to pregnant women, as well as on animal tests showing vaccines are safe and sound for mother and child.

Seasonal and pandemic flu vaccines can be given at the same time, provided at least one uses “inactivated” virus, which isn’t infectious anymore, the experts said.

Photo credit: blinkenpilzen

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