Negative Blogs

When the nation’s swine flu vaccination program began in early October, health officials predicted it was going to be “messy.” They were right.

The program has been plagued with problems and information gaps:

* Health officials have been terrible at predicting when and how much vaccine would be available. Only about 44 million doses have been shipped so far. Initially, officials said more than three times that would be out by now.
* At times vaccine shipments have been inexplicably lopsided. For example, smaller counties in Illinois and California have received the same amount delivered to counties with seven times as many people.
* Health officials have stressed that people most at risk for swine flu complications should go to the head of the line, but they haven’t tried to make sure that actually happened.
* And despite pledges that they would be transparent about the vaccine program, some health officials have refused to disclose where all the doses are going, and they have held back on public service announcements telling people who should be coming in for shots. Also, many states were slow to establish Web sites that give vaccination locations.

To be fair, health officials say, the government deserves credit for a herculean effort to develop and distribute a safe and effective vaccine against a deadly virus that was first identified only seven months ago.

“You have a brand-new disease that gets identified in April. By October, you have a vaccine for it. By any standards, it’s a miracle,” said Dr. Diane Helentjaris, director of the Virginia Department of Health office handling swine flu response.

But complaints have been mounting, with lawmakers this week holding hearings in Washington and elsewhere, pressing for explanations.

“Calls are still coming in to me about, ‘Why can’t I get the vaccine?’” said Andrea Stillman, a Connecticut state senator speaking at a Wednesday hearing in Hartford. Hard money training

It was bound to happen: Some people who aren’t at high risk for swine flu complications got the much-in-demand vaccine.

Sometimes they were healthy adults or senior citizens instead of kids, pregnant women and people with health problems.

Before Los Angeles County health officials stepped up screening at their flu clinics, Natalie Thompson sailed through the long line and got the vaccine along with her 8-year-old son, even though she’s not in one of the priority groups.

“If I can get it, I’m not gonna say no,” said Thompson, 35, of Hollywood Hills.

Another mom, Katy Radparvar, didn’t say no either.

“Our doctor doesn’t have it yet,” said the 41-year-old woman who was vaccinated along with her three children at a public health vaccination site in suburban Encino last week.

Public health officials don’t want to be vaccine police. Many don’t turn anyone away who wants the vaccine, though some locations are tougher than others.

“For many this is a frustrating process and we really sympathize with those who show up at a clinic and can’t get vaccinated,” said Los Angeles County public health director Dr. Jonathan Fielding.

Across the country, thousands have waited in line and many have been turned away, as manufacturers have trickled out the slow-to-produce vaccine. Things are improving, and now about 25 million doses are available, the government says. Hard money training

First it was the rush for hand sanitizer. Then it was the quest for the vaccine. Now, as increasing numbers of children are coming down with swine flu, more parents are facing yet another anxiety-provoking chase: the hunt for liquid Tamiflu for kids.

Spot shortages of the liquid form of the medicine are forcing mothers and fathers to drive from pharmacy to pharmacy, often late into the evening after getting a diagnosis and prescription from a pediatrician, in search of the syrupy concoction recommended for the youngest victims of the global pandemic.

“It was so frustrating,” said Cheryl Copeland of Silver Spring, who finally found some of the elusive medication for her sick 5-year-old son, William, at an independent drug store Monday after being turned away by a CVS and Rite Aid. “There was a moment when the first pharmacist said, ‘We don’t have it. There’s been a run on it,’ When I said to myself, ‘Where on Earth am I going to find it?’ ”

The drug can make the flu milder, go away more quickly and may cut the risk of serious, potentially life-threatening complications. The shortages are being caused by a surge in demand because of the second wave of swine flu sweeping the country, combined with a decision by the Swiss company that makes the medication to focus on producing the drug in capsules. Hard money training

Annual production of H1N1 vaccine will be “substantially less” than the 4.9 billion doses the World Health Organization (WHO) previously forecast was possible, a spokesman said on Friday.

WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said that based on clinical test results from some 25 drugmakers, weekly production was less than 94 million doses, although it seemed one dose would be enough to give immunity against the swine flu strain.

“The real figure will be substantially less than 4.9 billion,” Hartl told reporters.

The WHO previously forecast one third of the world’s nearly seven billion people could be affected by the H1N1 pandemic, but so far the vast majority of victims are suffering only mild symptoms.

Hartl gave no exact new forecast but noted WHO’s previous estimate of 4.9 billion had been based on drugmakers switching all production of seasonal flu vaccine to the new vaccine against the H1N1 strain and getting good yields.

In a statement, the WHO said current supplies of pandemic vaccine are “inadequate for a world population in which virtually everyone is susceptible to infection.”

China has developed a vaccine for swine flu and is set to become the first country in the world to begin mass inoculations, but there are concerns over possible side effects, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told CNN, “We have to be ready for the fact that there might be adverse effects.”

“No matter what vaccine you’re looking at, sometimes there are extremely rare side effects. We don’t even know what those are yet, but they will show up in one in every two or 10 million vaccinated.”

Inoculations could begin in the next few weeks, according to the South China Morning Post, before celebrations begin on October 1 to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic.

The vaccine, PANFLU.1, was developed by Sinovac Biotech Ltd and is suitable for people aged three to 60.

Sinovac says the single-shot vaccine has been approved by China’s National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products and has obtained the Certificate for the Release of Biological Products. It says more than five million doses will be ready by the end of September.

There were 100,000 new cases of swine flu in England last week, nearly double the number from the previous seven days, authorities announced Friday.

Children 14 or younger were those predominantly affected, with those older than 65 showing much lower rates, the Department of Health said in its weekly swine flu update.

Most cases continue to be mild, the department said, but a small minority are severe.

The last weekly update showed 55,000 new cases. There is no figure for the week before that, but for the week ended July 3, there were 2,798 new cases. There were 1,442 new cases the week before that, according to department figures.

The Department of Health obtained the data from doctor’s offices that report their consultations for flu-like or other acute respiratory illnesses. It said consultation rates at doctor’s offices had risen sharply in the past week.

There are 840 patients hospitalized with swine flu in England, the department said.

H1N1 swine flu has killed more than 700 people around the world since the outbreak began four months ago, says the World Health Organization (WHO).

This represents a jump of at least two-thirds from the last official death toll figure of 429, published by the WHO on July 6.

Margaret Chan, WHO director-general, has warned that swine flu will become the biggest flu pandemic ever seen.

However, most cases continue to produce only mild symptoms.

The overwhelming majority of patients usually recover, even without medical treatment, within a week of falling ill.

The WHO has said the pandemic is developing at such a high speed that it is now pointless to try to document every case.

In past pandemics, flu viruses have needed more than six months to spread as widely as the new H1N1 virus has spread in less than six weeks.

The death of a woman suffering from H1N1 swine flu in Scotland is a sad reminder that this is not always a mild infection. This is not only the first confirmed death from H1N1 swine flu in Britain, but the first outside of the Americas.

But it is not a signal that the virus is getting more virulent or that people are at any greater threat. The vast majority of the 1,200 plus people who’ve had the virus in the UK have experienced mild symptoms and then fully recovered.

Throughout the world swine flu does present a slightly higher risk to those with existing respiratory illness, asthma, cardiovascular disease and obesity. It’s worth remembering that seasonal flu kills several thousand people in the UK each winter. The difference with H1N1 swine flu is that the virus is almost exclusively targeting people under 65.

It is likely that cases in the northern hemisphere may tail off in the summer months, with a much bigger outbreak expected in the autumn. The virus can’t be stopped altogether, but everyone can help slow its spread by observing simple hygiene measures, and staying home if they get the virus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global flu pandemic after holding an emergency meeting, according to reports.

It means the swine flu virus is spreading in at least two regions of the world with rising cases being seen in the UK, Australia, Japan and Chile.

The move does not necessarily mean the virus is causing more severe illness or more deaths.

The swine flu (H1N1) virus first emerged in Mexico in April.

It has since spread to 74 countries.

Official reports say there have been 28,000 cases globally and 141 deaths and figures are rising daily

It is the first flu pandemic in 40 years - the last in 1968 with Hong Kong flu killed about one million people.

The current pandemic seems to be moderate and causing mild illness in most people.

One factor which may have prompted the move to a level six pandemic was that in the southern hemisphere, the virus seems to be crowding out normal seasonal influenza.

It is thought the move was not prompted by the situation in any one country but the reports of several pockets of community spread.