Govt looks at delaying order for flu vaccine

       Thai health authorities are considering shelving plans to order an added 3 million flu vaccine doses to cover priority groups because of global production shortages.
       Deputy permanent secretary for public health Paijit Warachit yesterday said the order for the 3 million doses against the pandemic influenza might have to be put on hold.
       "It's not easy to order millions of vaccine doses at this time as there are only about 500 million doses available worldwide, compared to a global population of 6 billion," Dr Paijit said.
       Dr Paijit will assume office as the new public health permanent secretary on Oct 1.
       He also said it was essential to consider other factors such as the research and development of a local nasal-spray type vaccine and to take into account the outcome of vaccine donation pledges to developing countries.
       The subcommittee on immunisation practice, which advises the government on vaccine matters, last week recommended that front-line healthcare workers, pregnant women and people with obesity problems or developmental disability and chronic diseases about 5 million people - should be the first to receive vaccines.
       He said they were the top priority in regard to type-A (H1N1) flu because they belong to high-risk groups.
       The recommendation is aimed at reducing the number of deaths in the country based on the fatality figures released by the Bureau of Epidemiology.
       Dr Paijit said the type-A (H1N1) flu has put 10,000 people in hospital ever y day.
       However, only 2 million doses of inactivated vaccine will be available from the manufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur,in December and January.
       Dr Paijit said provincial health officials have been instructed to closel y monitor and control the spread of the H1N1 virus in schools, factories,temples and prisons as cases of local human-to-human transmission have been reported nationwide.
       The flu situation in the North and Northeast could get worse in coming months as the weather changes from the rainy season to the cool season, Dr Paijit said.
       An estimated 5 million people in Thailand have already contracted the H1N1 virus after the first case was reported in late April, he said.
       This group amounted to only 8% of the total population and would not help slow the virus transmission rate,Bureau of Epidemiology director Pasakorn Akrasevi said.