# 2268
Like a number of other countries, Japan has made a sizable investment in stockpiling a pre-pandemic H5N1 vaccine, based on an earlier clade of the bird flu virus. No one knows just how effective it will be against a pandemic strain, but the feeling it is, it may provide some protection.
The problem is, vaccines have a limited shelf life.
And millions of doses of Japan's stockpile will expire next year. Authorities are faced with either using these vaccines, or losing them.
If they were to inoculate people with them, it is hoped these H5N1 antigens could remain protective for years inside the recipients.
Of course, there is some risk involved.
Only a few hundred people have received the H5N1 vaccines, and while no major adverse side-effects have been reported, the possibility exists that something could turn up if millions of people receive the shots.
This month Japan began inoculating about 6,000 medical personnel, the largest test of the vaccine to date, to see if any serious side effects showed up. They are now trying to decide how many of the approximately 10 million remaining doses they want to distribute in their next major release of the vaccine.
According to today's article, in Japan Today, they are considering inoculating 1.5 million medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists. Police, and other public safety workers, may receive the vaccine at a later date.
A hat tip to Mixin on Flutrackers for this link.
1.5 mil medical professionals eyed for expanded flu vaccinations
Monday 01st September, 05:56 AM JST
TOKYO —
The health ministry is considering inoculating about 1.5 million doctors and other medical professionals with pre-pandemic flu vaccines in a planned expansion of advance vaccinations to better prepare for a possible outbreak of new types of influenza, ministry sources said Sunday. Using the state’s stockpile of pre-pandemic vaccines, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare started clinical trials in August targeted at around 6,400 people, including quarantine inspectors and workers at medical institutions for infectious diseases.
The ministry initially planned to expand the vaccinations to an additional 10 million people, including police officers and others engaged in ‘‘lifeline’’ services, if the safety and effectiveness of pre-pandemic vaccines were confirmed through the clinical tests. But the ministry has decided for now to limit the number of people targeted by the expanded vaccination program to 1.5 million, including doctors, nurses and pharmacists, after advice that expansion of the vaccination program should be implemented gradually, the sources said.
