News | Sunday, 02 August 2009

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Vaccine distribution postponed until February

Charlot Zahra
The Health Division has decided to postpone the distribution of the swine flu vaccine in Malta till February next year, when a safer version of the vaccine which has been tested will be available.
This news came as the number of confirmed cases of swine flu in Malta until Friday night rose to 168, of whom 115 have recovered. Currently there are two people hospitalised in Mater Dei after contracting the virus.
However, according to Ray Busuttil, Health Division Director-General, the number of infected people could be more in view of the fact that the authorities were testing only among vulnerable groups.
In October an untested version of the vaccine will be available in the market, however the Maltese Government has decided against distributing this untested vaccine out of safety considerations.
Addressing a press conference at the Health Ministry in Valletta to announce the Government’s policy on the distribution of swine flu vaccines, Parliamentary Secretary for Elderly and Community Care Mario Galea explained how this untested vaccine will be used by four European Union countries – Spain, UK, France and Greece – however the World Health Organisation’s flu chief Fakuda warned against the use of untested vaccines by EU Member States.
In fact, Galea said, the WHO is still reeling from the experience of the US authorities in 1976, when a number of people developed paralyptic symptoms after being inoculated with an untested version of the swine flu vaccine after the US feared the outbreak of the virus.
In view of how the spread of swine flu has developed in Malta, and the fact that most people suffering from swine flu have recovered well, the Pandemics’ Committee decided to wait for the version of the swine flu vaccine which has a safety profile as recommended by the WHO, Galea explained.
A few years ago, the Health Division had already reached a deal with a company to supply vaccines to the Maltese Government if a pandemic flu hits Malta.
In view of this agreement, the Government has ordered 500,000 doses of the tested swine flu vaccine to be delivered in six months’ time.
However, the authorities were still constantly evaluating the situation as the safety profile of the untested version of the swine flu vaccine gradually builds up over time, Galea insisted.
Although the untested version of the swine flu vaccine will be available in Malta after the EU health authorities issued a conditional release for that version, the Health Division is warning all doctors to advice patients of the potential dangers that the untested version of the swine flu vaccine carries.
“At the end there might not be any problems at all with the untested version, but we did not want to take a leap in the dark,” Busuttil said.

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