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Russia begins vaccinating against the H1N1 virus today, but a bit unusually, with the first vaccines going to utility workers who bring vital water, heat, and electric power to much of the nation.
The second tier to receive the vaccine (starting in late November) will be Health Care Workers, teachers, and medical students while vaccination of pregnant women, children, and those with chronic diseases won’t begin before December.
This report from Itar-Tass.
Russia to launch vaccination against new flu
09.11.2009, 02.10
MOSCOW, November 9 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia will launch a vaccination campaign against new flu on Monday. The first stage of the vaccination will be held in the Altai Territory, the Moscow, Tyumen, Bryansk and Voronezh regions.
Minister of Health and Social Development Tatiana Golikova will visit a hospital in Lvovsky, Podolsk district of the Moscow region on this occasion.
The first stage of the vaccination will embrace utility workers (the housing and utilities complex, water and electric power supplies, as well as the communications), the press service of the Ministry of Health and Social Development told Itar-Tass.
Medical workers, teachers, senior students of medical higher educational institutions will be vaccinated since late November. The next stage of the vaccination will embrace other categories of the population in the risk groups exposed to the threat of severe complications of the disease – people with chronic diseases, pregnant women and children.
Four vaccines were developed, passed pre-clinical and clinical tests, proved their efficiency and full safety in the tests and were registered, the press service recalled. “The Russian government allocated four billion roubles for the purchases of first 43 million vaccines,” the press service reported. The Microgen federal state unitary enterprise, which is one of the vaccine’s producers, has already concluded a state contract for the first anti-A(H1N1) flu vaccine supplies (1.3 million vaccines).
