WHO releases global influenza vaccine plan

[Angel]

Vaccine makers will have enough production capacity to cover only slightly more than one-third of the world’s population with a single dose if an influenza pandemic strikes in 2008-2009, the World Health Organization said this week as it outlined a plan to stimulate vaccine production.

Released Oct. 23, WHO’s plan recommends three general approaches to stimulate vaccine production: increasing the number of people vaccinated against seasonal influenza; increasing production capacity; and further research and development into speedier production and more effective vaccines.

“Sustained action must be taken now. Otherwise in 3 or 4 years, we will be asking ourselves about the supply of vaccines and nothing will have moved,” Marie-Paule Kieny, director of the WHO initiative for vaccine research, said in a press conference in Geneva announcing the plan. “Although the industry has increased demand and [its] capacity, this will still be insufficient to meet the needs of the global population.”

Current global influenza vaccine production stands at 350 million doses of seasonal vaccine, and with production planned to go online in coming years, that capacity will increase to nearly 800 million by 2009 if the plants were running 24 hours a day, WHO officials said.

Because a pandemic vaccine would contain one strain, rather than the three strains contained in a dose of seasonal vaccine, the coverage could reach 2.34 billion, short of the 6.7 billion world population, WHO officials said. That shortage could be exacerbated if, as WHO officials fear, two doses will be necessary to give each person an adequate immunoprotective effect.

Capital investment in vaccine production is estimated at about $1 (U.S. dollar) per dose, WHO said in a press release. Seasonal influenza vaccine costs $3-$7 a dose.

As the WHO released its plan, the United States announced a $10 million contribution to WHO to support international vaccine development and manufacturing.

“Responding to a pandemic will demand the cooperation of the world community,” Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said in a statement. “No nation can go it alone. If a country is to protect its own people, it must work together with other nations to protect the people of the world.”

The announcement of the WHO plan came 5 days after GlaxoSmithKline announced it will be selling to Switzerland enough vaccine protecting against the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus--8 million doses--to cover its entire population. The company also announced an advance purchase agreement for 7.5 million doses of pandemic vaccine should the need arise.

To fulfill the strategy of stimulating demand, the WHO plan calls for, among other initiatives, development of regional and national programs for seasonal flu vaccinations; construction of new production facilities in developing or industrialized countries; and enhancement of the protective efficacy and immunogenicity of existing vaccines. The WHO reported no new cases of the H5N1 virus this week