Determined to head off a swine flu pandemic that is once again inspiring widespread fear, the European Medicines Agency has cleared a fast track for the development of a new vaccine, doing away with the need for large-scale human trials. Following a development format originally laid out in the event bird flu started to spread in humans, vaccine makers will be able to start providing the first doses of their new vaccines as early as next month.
Britain will be the first to start administering the vaccine, with 132 million doses on order. And other European countries including France and Sweden say they plan to start their own vaccination campaigns once supplies begin to arrive.
Europe's fast-track approach is in stark contrast to the U.S., where officials say that large human trials will be required ahead of an approval. The U.S. has also yet to say exactly what kind of vaccination campaign will be undertaken. The U.S. expects to have 160 million doses of swine flu vaccine available in October.
While concerns in the U.S. have been relatively muted, the CDC is now estimating that up to 40 percent of Americans could be affected by the new flu.
"We had a 6 to 8 percent attack rate just during the spring months," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. "We think that in a longer winter season, attack rates would be two to three times as high as that."
- read the story in the Guardian
- see the report in HealthDay