France on the defensive over flu vaccine surplus

EPIDEMICS

China records 659 swine flu deaths in 2009
Beijing (AFP) Jan 4, 2010 - China said Monday it had recorded 659 swine flu deaths in 2009, nearly all of them in the last two months of the year, and warned that the danger of mass outbreaks still existed in certain areas. The health ministry said the total number of A(H1N1) infections recorded since the virus was first detected last year stood at 120,940. At the end of October, the reported death toll stood at just six. The number of recorded deaths then spiked, reaching about 180 at the start of December and 659 by the end of the month. "The danger of an explosion of outbreaks in some places exists, and the number of fatalities and serious cases will remain at a rather high level," said Liang Wannian, director of the ministry's emergency response office.

Serious difficulties remained in containing the spread of the virus in rural areas and at schools, Liang told a press conference. Ministry officials had already warned of a "grim" winter flu outlook, and are urging caution ahead of the February Lunar New Year holidays, when hundreds of millions of people swamp roads and railways to visit family. In November, renowned medical whistle-blower Zhong Nanshan, who helped expose the scale of the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, said the true A(H1N1) death count was being covered up. The government responded by ordering more accurate case reporting by officials.

China has so far vaccinated 49.9 million people, Liang said - the largest campaign in the world, but still only a small proportion of the country's 1.3 billion people. Chinese laboratories were at the forefront of worldwide efforts to develop and mass-produce a swine flu vaccine, but the quick clinical trials and production cycle led to concerns that the shot was perhaps unsafe. Liang said China's vaccine was not linked to the deaths last month of two people following their inoculations. "Following confirmation, the deaths... had nothing to do with the inoculations," Liang said, without giving the causes of death or any details about the two deceased. Officials have said that adverse reactions were only reported in a handful of cases - about one out of a million jabs.

by Staff Writers
Paris (AFP) Jan 4, 2010
The French government on Monday fought off criticism it had poorly planned its swine flu vaccine programme after it bought far more doses than needed and announced plans to sell surplus stock.

France bought 94 million doses of vaccine for the A(H1N1) virus, expecting to provide most of its population of 64 million with two doses each, but only five million have been vaccinated and one dose has been found to be sufficient.

"What would people be saying if the pandemic had been serious?" said Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, a medical doctor, after several opposition politicians took a swipe at the government.

"We are very happy this virus turned out to be less virulent than we thought," he said.

The minister cautioned that winter was not yet over and that there could still be a spike in illnesses that would prompt more people to turn up for their shot.

Qatar has bought 300,000 doses and Egypt is negotiating to buy two million, according to the health ministry. France is also in discussions with Mexico and Ukraine to sell some of its stock.

Socialist opposition spokesman Benoit Hamon said the government had provided pharmaceutical companies with a boon and that it was waging a campaign of "fear mongering" to try to liquidate the vaccine stock.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's government is trying to justify the fact that it "paid one billion euros to pharmaceutical companies who are the big winners in this entire affair," said Hamon.

GlaxoSmithKline, the British pharmaceutical giant from whom France has ordered 50 million doses, said Monday it was willing to "rediscuss" the deal if the government made such a request.

The company's spokesman in Paris said Glaxo had by the end of last month delivered just over 13 million doses to France.

Another company France bought its vaccinations from, Sanofi Pasteur, a unit of French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis, said Sunday it too was willing to examine its contract with the French government if requested.

Half of the 28 million doses of Sanofi vaccines have been delivered to France, in a contract worth 175 million euros (250 million dollars), with the rest to be delivered during the first quarter of 2010.

Swine flu has killed at least 12,220 people worldwide with the biggest share of victims in the United States and Canada, though it is now declining in North America, according to the World Health Organisation.

A total of 198 people -- including 24 children under the age of 15 -- have died from the virus in France and its overseas departments, according to health authorities.

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EPIDEMICS

France joins Europe flu vaccine sell-off
Paris (AFP) Jan 3, 2010
France has joined other European countries in selling off millions of its emergency swine flu vaccines, the government announcing Sunday it had bought far more than needed to fight the outbreak. "We started with a plan for two-dose vaccinations but since one dose is sufficient we can start to re-sell part of the stock," a French health ministry official told AFP. Like Germany, the Nether ... read more

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