Medimmune Nasal Spray Will Be The First U.S. H1N1 vaccines - CDC
Sunday, September 20, 2009
H1N1 Swine Flu virus Patent Owner Medimmune, Nasal Spray Will Be The First U.S. H1N1 vaccines - CDC
WASHINGTON - The first U.S. roll-out of vaccines against the new swine flu virus will be 3.4 million doses of MedImmune's nose spray, ya you heard it right the same company who patented the H1N1 Swine Flu virus back in 2008 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.
The CDC's Dr Jay Butler said the vaccines would be distributed the first week of October.
"Initially we anticipate that 3.4 million doses of vaccine will be available," Butler told a telephone briefing.
"We anticipate being able to start receiving orders for the vaccine by early October," Butler added. The U.S. government is providing the H1N1 vaccine for free to about 90,000 distributors, including doctor's offices, retail chains and state health departments.
"We estimate that the amount of vaccine that will be available will increase through October," Butler said, adding that eventually delivery would rise to about 20 million doses a week.
The United States has ordered 195 million doses of H1N1 swine flu vaccine from five companies -- MedImmune, a unit of AstraZeneca (AZN.L), Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA), Australia's CSL (CSL.AX), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) and Novartis (NOVN.VX).
It has recommended that about 160 million people, roughly half the population, get vaccinated first -- pregnant women, healthcare workers, children and people with chronic conditions such as diabetes or asthma who are most at risk of getting very ill from flu.
There is no enforcement of this, however, and it will be up to the people giving the vaccine to decide who goes first.
MedImmune's vaccine is not approved for people with asthma, people over age 50 or very young children, mostly because it has not yet been tested widely in these groups. State health officials say that might affect who gets the first doses.
Some of the other vaccines contain thimerosal, a preservative that scientists say is safe but which worries some people, and the state of Washington, for instance, says infants and pregnant women may not be given thimerosal-containing vaccines, another factor that could affect distribution.
The CDC's Dr Jay Butler said the vaccines would be distributed the first week of October.
"Initially we anticipate that 3.4 million doses of vaccine will be available," Butler told a telephone briefing.
"We anticipate being able to start receiving orders for the vaccine by early October," Butler added. The U.S. government is providing the H1N1 vaccine for free to about 90,000 distributors, including doctor's offices, retail chains and state health departments.
"We estimate that the amount of vaccine that will be available will increase through October," Butler said, adding that eventually delivery would rise to about 20 million doses a week.
The United States has ordered 195 million doses of H1N1 swine flu vaccine from five companies -- MedImmune, a unit of AstraZeneca (AZN.L), Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA), Australia's CSL (CSL.AX), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) and Novartis (NOVN.VX).
It has recommended that about 160 million people, roughly half the population, get vaccinated first -- pregnant women, healthcare workers, children and people with chronic conditions such as diabetes or asthma who are most at risk of getting very ill from flu.
There is no enforcement of this, however, and it will be up to the people giving the vaccine to decide who goes first.
MedImmune's vaccine is not approved for people with asthma, people over age 50 or very young children, mostly because it has not yet been tested widely in these groups. State health officials say that might affect who gets the first doses.
Some of the other vaccines contain thimerosal, a preservative that scientists say is safe but which worries some people, and the state of Washington, for instance, says infants and pregnant women may not be given thimerosal-containing vaccines, another factor that could affect distribution.
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