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As the United States struggles with its slower than anticipated roll out of the pandemic vaccine, so do officials in Canada, where news of additional delays became public yesterday.
Crof at Crofsblog has done a terrific job following this story over the past couple of days, with entries such as Must-read of the day and Canada: BC downplaying H1N1 vaccine shortage.
As I pointed out in Murphy's Laws And Vaccine Production last July, and in A Vaccine Reality Check back in May, there are a lot of things that can go wrong during vaccine manufacturing.
From Healthzone.ca we get details on the announced shortfall of vaccine in Canada due to production problems at the GSK plant in Ste-Foy, Quebec.
Vaccine glitch delays H1N1 flu shots
October 31, 2009Theresa Boyle
Joanna Smith
What has been touted as the largest vaccination campaign in Canada's history hit a major hurdle Friday when health officials announced a production glitch had resulted in a significant shortfall in vaccine supply.
Instead of beginning mass immunizations next week, Ontario public health units are being forced to ration limited inventories, delaying plans to vaccinate healthy people so that those at risk of complications from the H1N1 virus and health-care workers can get their shots first.
And beginning Saturday, as the number of clinics in Toronto increases to four, Toronto public health officials will beef up screening efforts and turn away from clinics anyone deemed not high priority for the flu shot.
While healthy individuals had been invited to start getting their shots at some clinics starting Monday, it's now uncertain when there will be enough vaccine for them.
"We have added staff who will be walking along the line and screening to ensure that the people that will get the vaccine will only be in the priority groups," warned Toronto's associate medical officer of health, Dr. Barbara Yaffe.
The head of the Public Health Agency of Canada, Dr. David Butler-Jones, said Friday only about 625,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine are expected to reach flu clinics across the country in next week, compared to the 2 million doses that have been shipped in each of the past three weeks.
Ontario, which had been expecting to receive 1 million doses of vaccine next week, will instead receive only 170,000 doses of the regular version of the vaccine that contains an adjuvant – a chemical additive that stretches supply and boosts immunity – and 86,800 doses of the adjuvant-free version for pregnant women.
