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Swine flu vaccine shown to be safe in early studies
by Camilla Abad - August 22, 2009 - comments
45 to 52 million doses of the swine flu vaccine is expected to be available in mid-October
Atlanta, August 22: No negative effects have been observed so far during the clinical trials of the swine flu vaccine, health officials reported on Friday.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases announced, "There are no red flags regarding safety [of the vaccine].”
Reactions to the vaccine
The clinical trials of the swine flu vaccine consist of five studies and on Aug. 7, volunteer for the first of the five studies were injected with the vaccine. Currently, no adverse reaction to the vaccine has been reported by any of the volunteers, the only symptoms they experienced were soreness and swelling of the arm where the injection was given.
More trials
Due to the positive results shown by the early part of the study, health officials proceeded with conducting the study on children aged 6 months to 17 years. They will also continue to conduct studies on pregnant women, a population at high risk for developing swine complications, in September.
Health officials are estimating that 4,500 to 4,600 people will participate in the swine flu vaccine studies.
Jay Butler, leader of the H1N1 Vaccine Task Force of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 45 to 52 million doses of the swine flu vaccine is projected to be made available to the public in mid-October.
Setting priorities
Due to the high demand for the vaccines, an advisory committee made their recommendations on who will be given priority to receive the vaccines. Butler announced the priority groups to be "pregnant women, children, and young adults aged 6 months through 24 years, as well as persons aged 25 through 64, who have medical conditions that put them at higher risk for influenza-related complications."
Butler also stated that infants below six months of age and people working in the medical field should be given with the vaccine.
In the United States, 8,000 people have been hospitalized and 522 have died due to the swine flu vaccine although the CDC estimates that the virus has already affected more than 1 million people in the country. The virus continues to spread though now at a slower pace than before.