“But are all the new swine flu vaccines safe?”
In the last week, swine flu cases in the UK have almost doubled. Much of this is due to the fact that children have returned to school and 66 schools have already been affected by the virus since they returned after summer break.
The infections, which were originally around 5,000, have skyrocketed to 9,000 according to figures released by the UK Department of Health. Sir Liam Donaldson, UK Medical Director, has said that while this number remains relatively low, it is a sign that a second wave of the pandemic is coming.
Pupils in schools across the UK are being shown how important it is to wash their hands and use tissues if they have a cold, cough or sneeze. Once used, the tissues must be discarded. He has said that the reason children should fully understand this is because this has been shown to dramatically reduce the risk of infection.
At present, the two vaccines that have been approved for use in the UK appear to be causing concern as the public is concerned that adequate testing has not been carried out to ensure their safety with the use of these drugs. . The two vaccines are Pandemrix and Focentria. The first is manufactured by the British company GlaxoSmithKline and the second by the Swiss company Novartis. Glaxo SmithKline supplies the UK vaccines.
The European Medicines Agency, which is the regulatory authority, has also mentioned Baxter, which also has a vaccine that they hope to approve next week.
You may be wondering by now what it means when we say that a drug has been with licence. What this means is that the European Medicines Agency has ensured, firstly, that the medicine in question is safe and, secondly, that it is effective for its intended purpose. The agency will not get involved in discussing which vaccine may be better than the other. Even though these two vaccines have been approved at present, they have yet to be approved by the European Commission, but this is generally a rubber stamp job and is expected to be agreed next week.
What worries many people is the fact that these new vaccines have been quickly traced through the system. The reason for this is that medical authorities urgently want to get them to high-risk patients ahead of the large increase in swine flu cases expected this winter. What is actually happening is that the manufacturers of these drugs send a mock-up of the vaccine to the World Health Organization and their experts will have already been working to identify the exact strain that has been causing the swine flu. Once this strain has been recognized, they will be inserted into the model.
Because it seems to have been rushed, this is what seems to be of concern to the general public, but the European Medicines Agency has said that they do not believe that a new strain added to the old model will affect the safety of the vaccine or its efficacy in the first place. efficiency. However, they have asked the vaccine manufacturers to conduct additional trials. These trials will involve 9,000 people per vaccine to ensure that no problems arise.
In case you are wondering when these vaccines will be available to patients in the UK, the Medical Director has always indicated that it will be in October, although health officials from the Department of Health will not confirm any particular date. The only thing that is known is that the first batches of vaccine will be administered to vulnerable people such as asthmatics with heart problems and people who work in the health field.
If you or are concerned in any way for the safety of your family, please visit our main swine flu pages at http://askabouthealth.com/swine-flu.html
Graham hodgson