France sells off surplus swine flu vaccine

[demoleft]

Source: bbc

France is selling off millions of surplus swine flu vaccine doses to other countries, officials say.

They say the move was decided after health authorities found they had more than enough to deal with the outbreak.

Germany and The Netherlands announced similar sales late last year. The H1N1 virus appears to have peaked in North America and parts of Europe.

However it remains active elsewhere. More than 11,500 people worldwide are believed to have died from swine flu.


Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8438663.stm

[54anickel]

1. Not to sound cold-hearted, but isn't 11,500 deaths worldwide pretty low for a flu? I thought it's

usually in the hundreds of thousands. Then again, tracking stats hasn't been my strong suite for quite a few years. :shrug::

[Mojorabbit]

2. It is not over yet

there were something like 94 deaths in Ukraine in as many hours. They seem to have an especially virulent strain there.
China says it is just now starting to move into the countryside and there were problems with them fudging the reporting.
Still going good in India also.

Also there is this...
Swine Flu spikes again in U.S.


ATLANTA – There has been an upsurge in visits to doctors for Swine Flu and deaths associated with flu and pneumonia are again higher than the national epidemic threshold, the CDC said in a report released on Saturday.

“Visits to doctors for influenza-like illness (ILI) nationally increased slightly this week over last week. This is the first increase in this indicator after eight consecutive weeks of national decreases,” said the CDC.

http://www.vancouverite.com/2010/01/02/swine-flu-spikes-again-in-u-s/

There may be a third wave this winter or in the spring and no telling what it will look like then. I am glad for an overreaction than an under reaction nevertheless.

[That Is Quite Enough]

6. I thought the outbreak in the Ukraine was of 'pneumonic plague' and not Swine Flu?

I could've sworn I heard that somewhere, or maybe it was just a conspiracy or rumor or something.

[Techn0Girl]

13. You're right - the Ukraine outbreak was not swine flu.

But it sounds a lot scarier when you tell people that it was.

[Mojorabbit]

19. I don't know how thorough their testing is

but here is their website.
http://www.moz.gov.ua/ua/main/press/?docID=14556
Mu understanding is they are calling it flu. The gene samples are showing some changes from what I am reading.

[Techn0Girl]

14. It is very low. Overall H1N1 accounted for far less deaths in the U.S. than regular seasonal flu...

In the end it was all about selling snake oil at high prices by raising the fear factor.
Just a repeat of the "Avian Flu" / Tamaflu episode we had 5 years ago.
Creating unwarranted fear and panic always works on a certain segment of the population.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

15. Comparing 8 months of H1N1 to a full year of seasonal flu is disingenuous at best.

[JelloSka]

3. I've been trying to get the shot

but it's not available for young people yet, apparently. I'm 32.

[endless october]

7. supply is up; should be available in most areas.

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/public/vaccination_qa_pub.htm

scroll down at link to see vaccine locator.

[JelloSka]

8. Thanks!

I'll take a look at it.

[54anickel]

11. They've got signs and banners outside most of the Walgreens store in my area offering them. It's

got to be on the way to being more widely available. Right? :shrug:

[lizerdbits]

23. I got it last week at a CVS minute clinic

and I'm not in a high risk group.

[burning rain]

4. Ouch!

Looks like yet another instance where France's top-rated health care system was ahead of the curve.

[Techn0Girl]

5. Isn't it amazing that....

The dreaded swine flu scare pretty much went away and media attention floundered at about the same time the vaccine became far less profitable.

Hey DUers who were predicting end of the world scenarios over H1N1 - guess which finger I'm holding up now?

[uppityperson]

9. No, since it didn't go away yet and wtf "far less profitable". You are a real class act.

How is it "far less profitable"?

[Techn0Girl]

12. It's less profitable Sparky because no one's snapping it up because guess what?....

the world didn't end and the flu went away.
Countries are canceling orders of the vaccine.

[uppityperson]

18. "the flu went away"???? huh, keep telling yourself that but you are wrong

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/updates/international/
This report provides an update to the international situation as of December 23, 2009. The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to report laboratory-confirmed 2009 H1N1 flu cases and deaths on its Web page. These laboratory-confirmed cases represent a substantial underestimation of total cases in the world, as most countries focus surveillance and laboratory testing only on people with severe illness. The 2009 H1N1 influenza virus continues to be the dominant influenza virus in circulation in the world. For the most recent period in which data are available, from December 6 to December 12, 2009, 90.8% of influenza specimens reported to WHO were 2009 H1N1, 1.0% were seasonal A (H1), 1.1% were A (H3), 5.6% were influenza A viruses that were not subtyped, and 1.6% were influenza B viruses. In temperate regions of the Southern Hemisphere, sporadic cases of 2009 H1N1 have been reported in recent weeks but no sustained transmission has been observed. In tropical regions of the Americas and Asia, influenza activity due to 2009 H1N1 remains variable. In temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere influenza activity remains geographically widespread, however influenza-like illness (ILI) activity due to 2009 H1N1 has returned to near or below baseline in North America and overall pandemic influenza activity appears to have recently peaked in most European countries Influenza trends in Western and Central Asia remain variable.

[LeftishBrit]

26. It hasn't gone away; just seems to be declining in many - but not all - places

And some of this is because of awareness and precautions being taken in time: including vaccination, and also other measures such as emphais on handwashing, hygiene and people staying at home if they have flu symptoms. I am strongly in favour of the vaccine being available, but I do also think that basic measures of hygiene are often even more crucial - so long as everyone takes them seriously.

I don't think anyone seriously anticipated that the 'world would end' even metaphorically. There is a lot in between a danger being nonexistent and being practically the end of the world!

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

28. Your post would be laughable if it weren't so sad.

[Rage for Order]

10. Swine flu...much ado about nothing

Or, in the case of the French, would it be much "adieu" about nothing?




:)

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

16. All of the families whose kids died from it think you are despicable.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Mojorabbit]

20. The big deaths were predicted for H5N1

and so far this one has been mild and I am hoping it stays that way. It is still too early to call though.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Mojorabbit]

22. H5N1 is the bird flu that so many were worried about

and it is still percolating in Asia. Hopefully that one will continue percolating and not do anything else. If nothing else this pandemic was a great drill for showing our many institutional weak spots for when the next one occurs.

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

25. People need to understand that public health organizations must plan for all possibilities.

The fact that the media runs with the most dire of those possibilities doesn't mean that's the most likely scenario, just that it is a contingency that has been planned for.

[LeftishBrit]

27. Hardly 'nothing'

Rather let's say that careful planning and good health precautions, including vaccinations for some and hygiene for all, have helped to make the problem (so far at least) less serious than it could have been.