The next update will be on Thursday, April 15th, at 0830 hrs PST.
The WHO Pandemic Alert level remains at Phase 6
Influenza A (H1N1) Cases and Deaths*
*Cases reported by The World Health Organization (WHO) are as of April 4, 2010National News
Adjuvant vaccines set to expire sooner than expected
The Public Health Agency of Canada has moved up the expiry dates for H1N1 vaccines containing adjuvant, effectively shortening their shelf lives. In an e-mail to reporters, the agency said, “In early March 2010, Health Canada, after careful analysis of both GSK [GlaxoSmithKline, the vaccine’s manufacturer] and its own stability data, determined that the 18 month shelf life was no longer appropriate for the product.” Unused vaccines will now have a recommended shelf life of six months. The department has said that the expiry date revision is not safety related, and to date Canadians who have received vaccines using adjuvant have been provided with sufficient immune response against H1N1 infection. CBC News
International News
WHO admits to flaws in its response to H1N1
The World Health Organization (WHO) has conceded shortcomings in its handling of public information during the H1N1 outbreak. Critics have said the organization created a panic in declaring a pandemic and question links with pharmaceutical companies that recorded large profits from producing vaccines. Addressing the first meeting of the external review committee of the WHO’s pandemic response, Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the agency’s top influenza expert said, “We have a great deal of speculation, we have a great deal of criticism […] I think we did not convey the uncertainty [inherent in a pandemic]. That was interpreted by many as a non-transparent process.”
Still, the agency does not regret making the declaration. "We have always been very clear that based on the virologic information, based on the immunologic information, the epidemiologic information, the differences in clinical patterns that we see from seasonal influenza, we have never had a moment's doubt of whether this is a pandemic or not," he said.
Dr. Fukuda went on to describe the confusion around the WHO’s six-phase system for declaring a pandemic as “vexing.” H1N1 was ultimately not as deadly as the widely-feared avian influenza, but the organization’s scale only accounts for the geographic spread of a virus, not its severity. The WHO tried to come up with a standard for measuring the pandemic's severity using death rates, but many countries lack the ability to gather sufficient levels of information or even basic birth and death registries. "Many countries don't have the actual capacity to determine reliably the severity of the virus," said Dr. Martin Cetron one of the experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention taking part in the review. The Vancouver Sun
Still, the agency does not regret making the declaration. "We have always been very clear that based on the virologic information, based on the immunologic information, the epidemiologic information, the differences in clinical patterns that we see from seasonal influenza, we have never had a moment's doubt of whether this is a pandemic or not," he said.
Dr. Fukuda went on to describe the confusion around the WHO’s six-phase system for declaring a pandemic as “vexing.” H1N1 was ultimately not as deadly as the widely-feared avian influenza, but the organization’s scale only accounts for the geographic spread of a virus, not its severity. The WHO tried to come up with a standard for measuring the pandemic's severity using death rates, but many countries lack the ability to gather sufficient levels of information or even basic birth and death registries. "Many countries don't have the actual capacity to determine reliably the severity of the virus," said Dr. Martin Cetron one of the experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention taking part in the review. The Vancouver Sun
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