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Some state kids to get swine flu vaccine in clinical trials
By VALLERY BROWN NewsOK.com
Published: 7/24/2009 2:26 AM
Last Modified: 7/24/2009 3:46 AM
Some Oklahoma children will receive the swine flu vaccine before it is available to the public.
If clinical trials go well, the vaccine could be available in limited supplies by mid- to late fall, experts said.
But some officials fear that the already fast-tracked studies might not be swift enough to curb the disease's quick spread.
IPS Research in Oklahoma City is the first Oklahoma company to conduct the vaccination trials and will begin enrolling study patients Aug. 17, medical director Dr. Louise Thurman said.
The trials will test the vaccine's effectiveness and whether it has side effects.
Thurman said she anticipates that about 200 children ages 3 to 8 will be able to enroll.
Patients accepted for the study will be given a vaccine or placebo and will be monitored through office visits and by phone. The study will last 42 days, and follow-up calls will continue after that.
Nationwide, 12,000 children will be given the vaccine for the trial, Thurman said.
The company should know Friday whether it will conduct adult trials, too.
"From a science standpoint, it should work," Thurman said.
Don Blose, chief of immunization services for the Oklahoma State Department of Health, said, "There is likelihood that we could have widespread disease in Oklahoma before we have a vaccine."
According to Blose, the vaccine could be released in October or November. Those doses likely will go to at-risk and priority patients.
He said federal health officials are working out those details and should have more information available in the coming weeks.
Blose said mass availability could come weeks or months later, even as late as the first of next year if there are any delays.
Peak flu season is usually late fall through early spring.
The vaccine probably will be administered in a two-dose series and will not supplant a seasonal flu vaccine, Blose said.
Likewise, a seasonal flu vaccine will not cover the swine flu.
The H1N1 virus has sickened about 200 people in Oklahoma and more than 40,000 nationwide.
It has resulted in 263 deaths, according to recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
By VALLERY BROWN NewsOK.com
Published: 7/24/2009 2:26 AM
Last Modified: 7/24/2009 3:46 AM
Some Oklahoma children will receive the swine flu vaccine before it is available to the public.
If clinical trials go well, the vaccine could be available in limited supplies by mid- to late fall, experts said.
But some officials fear that the already fast-tracked studies might not be swift enough to curb the disease's quick spread.
IPS Research in Oklahoma City is the first Oklahoma company to conduct the vaccination trials and will begin enrolling study patients Aug. 17, medical director Dr. Louise Thurman said.
The trials will test the vaccine's effectiveness and whether it has side effects.
Thurman said she anticipates that about 200 children ages 3 to 8 will be able to enroll.
Patients accepted for the study will be given a vaccine or placebo and will be monitored through office visits and by phone. The study will last 42 days, and follow-up calls will continue after that.
Nationwide, 12,000 children will be given the vaccine for the trial, Thurman said.
The company should know Friday whether it will conduct adult trials, too.
"From a science standpoint, it should work," Thurman said.
Don Blose, chief of immunization services for the Oklahoma State Department of Health, said, "There is likelihood that we could have widespread disease in Oklahoma before we have a vaccine."
According to Blose, the vaccine could be released in October or November. Those doses likely will go to at-risk and priority patients.
He said federal health officials are working out those details and should have more information available in the coming weeks.
Blose said mass availability could come weeks or months later, even as late as the first of next year if there are any delays.
Peak flu season is usually late fall through early spring.
The vaccine probably will be administered in a two-dose series and will not supplant a seasonal flu vaccine, Blose said.
Likewise, a seasonal flu vaccine will not cover the swine flu.
The H1N1 virus has sickened about 200 people in Oklahoma and more than 40,000 nationwide.
It has resulted in 263 deaths, according to recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
