Health Authorities Secures Over 40M Bird Flu Vaccine Doses

Visual Representation for Vaccine Administration | Credits: Shutterstock
Visual Representation for Vaccine Administration | Credits: Shutterstock

United States: The EU is set to ink a deal on Tuesday to obtain over 40 million doses of an avian flu vaccine for 15 countries, with the first shipments bound for Finland, officials announced on Monday.

This agreement guarantees up to 665,000 doses from the vaccine maker CSL Seqirus and includes an option to secure an additional 40 million doses over the next four years. The vaccines will be procured jointly by the Commission’s emergency health division, HERA, along with 15 EU and EEA countries.

These doses are aimed at those most at risk, including poultry farm workers and veterinarians. Similarly, the United States, Canada, and Britain are working to secure their own stocks of preventative vaccines.

“We are continuously monitoring the avian influenza situation, and together with our Member States, we are ensuring access to over 40 million doses of vaccine to protect those most at risk. Deliveries to countries with immediate needs are already on their way,” said EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides to Reuters.

The H5N1 virus has spread throughout most US states, mainly affecting poultry and, more recently, over 80 dairy farms.

To date, there have been no confirmed human-to-human transmissions, though three individuals in the US were infected after exposure to infected livestock since April 1.

As of early June, there are no active cases in humans or cattle in the EU, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), as reported by Reuters.

“Transmission to humans is a rare event, and no sustained human-to-human transmission has been observed so far,” stated the ECDC in their weekly report for June 1-7.

“The risk of zoonotic influenza transmission to the general public in EU/EEA countries is considered low.”

Additionally, through HERA, the Commission has already secured 111 million doses of pandemic influenza vaccines from GSK and Seqirus, which can be adapted to any emerging flu strains.