# 2750
Lisa Schnirring, who writes for CIDRAP NEWS, brings us an excellent (as usual) overview of the issues facing experts weighing pandemic vaccine strategies around the world.
This is a lengthy, but important article, and I'm only going to post the opening paragraphs.
Please follow the link to read it in its entirety.
And after that, you might want to follow the links I provide below to read Maryn McKenna's award winning 2007 series (also on CIDRAP) called the Pandemic Vaccine Puzzle.
Experts weigh new H5N1 vaccine strategies
Lisa Schnirring
Staff Writer
Feb 3, 2009 (CIDRAP News) – At an Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) symposium in Washington, DC, today on seasonal and pandemic influenza, a group of experts fielded questions from reporters on some of the new trends and emerging issues, including prepandemic strategies for H5N1 avian influenza vaccines, now that some countries are stockpiling them.
Keiji Fukuda, MD, MPH, coordinator of the World Health Organization's (WHO's) global influenza program, told reporters that experts don't really know what virus will spark the next global pandemic, but given the persistent and lethal nature of the H5N1 virus, the WHO has received pledges from pharmaceutical manufacturers to develop a 150 million dose international vaccine stockpile. He said the stockpile is intended to stop or slow a pandemic if the outbreak is detected early enough.
The existence of individual-country H5N1 vaccine stockpiles and plans for a WHO global stockpile have raised complex questions about potential uses for the vaccine during the prepandemic period, Fukuda said.
Some countries are weighing what to do with the vaccines, especially since some doses are set to expire. Global health officials are considering other options, such as vaccinating people in high-risk countries such as China, Indonesia, or Vietnam or perhaps adding the antigen to seasonal flu vaccines as a priming strategy.
For a full overview of the pandemic vaccine issue, I can think of no better resource than Maryn's 7 part series:
THE PANDEMIC VACCINE PUZZLE
Part 1: Flu research: a legacy of neglect
Part 2: Vaccine production capacity falls far short
Part 3: H5N1 poses major immunologic challenges
Part 4: The promise and problems of adjuvants
Part 5: What role for prepandemic vaccination?
Part 6: Looking to novel vaccine technologies
Part 7: Time for a vaccine 'Manhattan Project'?
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