Doctors use GSK’s Pandemrix as seasonal flu vaccines fall short
pharmafile | January 10, 2011 | News story | Sales and Marketing | GSK, GlaxoSmithKline, Pandemrix, flu, h1n1, influenza, vaccines
Doctors may have to use last year’s stock of the H1N1 vaccine Pandemrix as the government admits there are some “local supply issues” in the UK for the seasonal flu vaccine.
This year’s vaccine includes H1N1, Influenza B and H3N2 to combat the more prevalent forms of the disease, and its use has been prioritised in the elderly and the young who have underlying health problems.
The Department of Health said there was an “adequate supply” of its seasonal vaccine, but some areas have higher than expected demand leading to “local supply issues”.
The predominant strain in most cases is H1N1, so the DH has said it will now use GlaxoSmithKline’s H1N1 vaccine Pandemrix where shortages occur.
In April 2010 the government cut its order of Pandemrix with GSK by one-third after last year’s Swine Flu epidemic petered out, but will now have to rely on surplus stock from that order.
A spokesman told Pharmafocus that GSK wasn’t in talks with the government over supplying more of its Pandemrix vaccines “at the moment”, and said how surplus stock was used was the “government’s responsibility”.
The spokesman also refused to speculate over whether the government had been overly hasty in cutting its Pandemrix orders last year.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5, Prime Minister David Cameron said: “I think one of the lessons is that it looks likely that, because of the prevalence of swine flu and other strains, we might have quite significant outbreaks in future years.”
He added: “We need to look at the way we order vaccinations and whether more needs to be done.”
The Health Protection Agency says that 50 people have now died from influenza since October, with 11 deaths coming in the last week.
Just under two thirds of those who have died were in an ‘at risk group’ for vaccination, and all but five of the 50 recorded deaths were infected by H1N1.
People who are worried about the flu virus or have questions over vaccination have been encouraged to visit their local GP.
Ben Adams
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