Originally posted by cautiouslypessimistic
Originally posted by azureskys
Just what and where is this vaccine ?
Has someone developed one ?
Has a law been instated making this supposed vaccine mandatory ?
Or is this all nothing but assumption.
Did you read the OP? I take it you didn't.
yes a vaccine has been developed. WHO moved to pandemic level 6. The U.S.'s entire pandemic defense is based off of the WHO. So, mandatory
vaccinations are a lot closer than you think.
Yes I read the OP but I truly think that there just may be a slight misunderstanding about a vaccine actually having been developed.
From the info I find It is still in the EXPERIMENTAL stage
pediatrics.about.com...
Swine Flu Vaccine
Swine Flu Basics
By Vincent Iannelli, M.D., About.com
Updated: June 12, 2009
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board
As the swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is a new virus, no swine flu vaccine is available to prevent infections.
And unfortunately, the seasonal flu vaccine that many of us received will not provide any protection against the swine flu virus.
Experts are already working on a swine flu vaccine though. The CDC has already provided a candidate vaccine virus to several laboratories and
manufacturers so that they can produce pilot lots of swine flu vaccines that can be tested to make sure they are safe and effective.
It is important to note that the decision to make a swine flu vaccine is separate from the decision as to whether or not to recommend that people
actually receive the vaccine. Experts will likely still have to see what happens throughout the rest of the summer to see if they will recommend that
people get a swine flu vaccine.
Swine Flu Vaccine
It is estimated that the swine flu vaccine won't be ready until sometime around September to November 2009. In addition to the time required to
actually make a new vaccine, the likely need to make seasonal flu vaccine for next year may delay things a little.
Can the swine flu vaccine be combined with the seasonal flu vaccine? Probably not, as vaccine companies will be done making seasonal flu vaccine by
early summer 2009, well before they can likely even get started on the swine flu vaccine.
Once the swine flu vaccine is ready, who will get it?
As was planned for other pandemics, swine flu vaccine will likely be given out based on specific categories and priority levels and the severity of
the pandemic.
At first, swine flu vaccination would be 'targeted to protect workers with critical skills, experience, or licensure status whose absence would
create bottlenecks or collapse of critical functions, and to protect workers who are at especially high occupational risk,' according to the CDC.
People with critical functions would be prioritized in the top tiers of vaccinations priority.
What about children?
In general, children are also considered to be in a priority group for getting swine flu vaccine and are also considered to be in the first tiers of
vaccination depending on their risk for complications:
Infants & toddlers 6 to 35 mo old, pregnant women - Tier 1
Household contacts of infants less than 6 mo - Tier 2
Children 3 to 18 yrs with high risk conditions - Tier 2
Children 3 to 18 yrs without high risk conditions - Tier 2 (Moderate Pandemic)
Children 3 to 18 yrs without high risk conditions - Tier 3 (Severe and Less Severe Pandemic)
To get the first three tiers of people vaccinated is estimated to require about 104 million doses of swine flu vaccine.
1976 Swine Flu Vaccine
Although it is true that we don't currently have a swine flu vaccine, there once was a swine flu vaccine that was made to target the swine flu H1N1
strain that was found at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Because of fears that this swine flu strain was similar to the flu strain that caused the 1918 Spanish
Flu pandemic, a vaccination program immunized more than 40 million people in the United States between October 1976 to December 1976.
The immunization program was stopped early because the swine flu pandemic didn't occur, and the swine flu vaccine was thought to cause many side
effects, including Guillain-Barre syndrome.
How many cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome were there? About 40, or 1 per million people vaccinated. Even that was considered too high though in light
of the fact that there didn't seem to be any cases of swine flu that season.
Swine Flu Vaccine Timeline
June 4 - the CDC has provided a candidate vaccine virus to several laboratories and manufacturers so that they can produce pilot lots of swine flu
vaccines that can be tested to make sure they are safe and effective.
June 12 - Novartis, a Swiss drug maker, which makes the Fluvirin flu vaccine for seasonal flu, has announced that they have produced their first batch
of swine flu vaccine. This is still an experimental vaccine though, that needs to complete clinical trials to make sure it is safe and effective
before it can be further produced for everyone to use.
Source:
PandemicFlu.gov. Draft Guidance on Allocating and Targeting Pandemic Influenza Vaccine. Accessed April 2009.
www.pandemicflu.gov...
pediatrics.about.com...