# 375
The news that Thailand is considering the creation of their own H5N1 vaccine facility is big news in The Land of Smiles, and there has been coverage in most of their national media. In The Nation, one of Thailand’s leading papers, there is an article regarding this plan, and at the bottom, in the last paragraph, there’s this:
In regard to the three deaths from the H3N2 strain of human flu, the Public Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla urged the public not to panic and rush to be vaccinated, as only at-risk groups such as the medical profession and disease control officials needed it.
LINK
A sobering reminder that something as simple as a seasonal influenza vaccination, a preventative that many of us have at our disposal yet fail to avail ourselves of, is in short supply in much of the world.
While it is true that a seasonal vaccine might have little effect on a pandemic strain of avian influenza, there is some evidence it may help `prime’ the immune system to be more receptive to a better-matched vaccine once it becomes available. Should the H5N1 virus mutate through reassortment with one of the existing human flu viruses, it is even possible that today’s flu vaccine might have some beneficial effects. Highly speculative, and a long shot, admittedly.
We also have the pneumovax II vaccine, which can help prevent 23 different types of pneumonia; something else that many other nations have little or no access to. It isn’t too late to talk to your doctor about a flu shot, or the pneumovax II vaccine.
These are small, relatively simple things that most of us can do to help protect ourselves during a regular flu season that might also convey some protection during a pandemic. No guarantees, of course.
But for billions of people around the world, it isn’t even an option.
