Swine Flu vaccines delayed to next year

Swine Flu vaccines delayed to next year
Officials assure adequate measures have been taken
By Nizla Naizer


The batch of swine flu vaccines donated to developing countries by the World Health Organisation will reach Sri Lanka by early next year, health officials have revealed.
Meanwhile, they insist that the guidelines in place to deal with the disease which claimed its first victim last week are adequate and in line with international standards.
Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Pabha Palihawadane told The Bottom Line that the 16-year-old boy who died of complications caused by H1N1 in Kandy last Thursday had a history of chronic respiratory problems.
“We advise the public to seek medical attention immediately if they have a history of respiratory ailments,” she explained, “But we are satisfied with the guidelines already in place across the island. We are conducting awareness programmes in schools and have ensured that adequate stocks of anti-viral medication are available in the sentinel hospitals across the island.”
In Kandy alone, where over 15 suspected swine flu patients have been admitted to the Kandy General Hospital, a new Swine Flu Ward was opened primarily to deal with these cases.
She added that the Health Ministry is liaising with the WHO at present to determine the amount of swine flu vaccine stocks, which will be made available to the country. “We expect the vaccines to arrive in Sri Lanka by January at the earliest,” she stated, “And we are drafting a National Plan to determine how the vaccines will be administered to the public.”The first case of swine flu was detected in Sri Lanka in June this year, but since mid October the disease has been classified to be in community transmission, with reports emerging from several districts including Colombo, Kandy and Kurunegala.
WHO had agreed to distribute 10% of total vaccines manufactured by developed countries to over 90 developing countries including Sri Lanka. However, recent reports from the US indicate that production delays continue to hamper distribution of the H1N1 swine flu vaccine.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in April 19 this year, a total of 80 countries have reported to have confirmed swine flu cases. Many countries have stopped counting the cases as the symptoms are generally mild and flu like, but till November 1 there were 482,000 laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009 and over 6,000 deaths reported to WHO.

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