Canada: 3 provinces delay seasonal flu vaccination

[B.C.]

Canada mulls delaying or canceling seasonal flu vaccination
www.chinaview.cn 2009-09-24 01:59:40 Print

OTTAWA, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Canadian public health officials are holding discussions on how to carry out seasonal flu vaccinations as they expect a A/H1N1 flu pandemic, with some suggesting regular flu vaccination be delayed or even canceled.

Up till now the plan has been for provinces and territories to run their seasonal flu shot programs first, starting essentially any time now. They would be followed up with pandemic vaccination efforts after the A/H1N1 flu vaccine is licensed for use in early-to-mid November, local media reports said Wednesday.

But a lot of experts are questioning the necessity of the regular flu vaccine, pointing out that the major threat is now theA/H1N1 flu.

Some provinces like Quebec are putting on hold their regular flu vaccination plans. Quebec officials said the seasonal vaccine could be delayed until after the A/H1N1 vaccination effort has been completed. Or a more limited seasonal shot campaign might be undertaken, one that would target people like seniors who would beat highest risk if seasonal flu viruses do circulate.

Or the province may cancel these shots altogether.

However, some experts believe it is premature to decide to junk the seasonal campaign, though the idea of a delayed and more targeted delivery of seasonal flu shots makes sense to some experts.

While the H1N1 flu pandemic is unfolding, other viruses will be squeezed out. But the concern is that there is still a lot of cold winter left for the other seasonal agents to return. Distribution of seasonal vaccines may become necessary in January, according to Dr. David Scheifele, director of the vaccine evaluation center at B.C. Children's Hospital in Vancouver.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/24/content_12103592.htm

 

[B.C.]

Re: Canada mulls delaying or canceling seasonal flu vaccination

Re: Canada mulls delaying or canceling seasonal flu vaccination

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090923/seasonal_flu_090923/20090923?hub=Health

Seasonal flu vaccine programs being questioned
Updated Wed. Sep. 23 2009 2:04 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Public health officials across Canada are now wondering whether they need to scrap vaccine programs for seasonal flu, to focus instead on swine flu vaccination.

With evidence mounting that the swine flu virus will likely "crowd out" all other flu viruses spreading in the community this fall and become the dominant strain causing flu infections, there are some who wonder whether seasonal flu shots are needed.

Is it realistic, they wonder, to expect Canadians to head to flu clinics twice for two different vaccines: one for seasonal flu and one for swine flu. Young children might even be recommended to get four flu shots, since children usually need two flu vaccinations given a few weeks apart, to give their immature immune systems full protection. This year, they'd need to double up twice.

Health officials in Quebec are already saying they're putting the seasonal flu shot program on standby.

"For the moment, it's on hold," said Karine White, a media relations liaison with the Ministry of Health and Social Services in Quebec told Canadian Press.

Delaying the seasonal flu shot program would allow health workers to concentrate on getting swine flu vaccine into the arms of those who most at risk of complications from swine flu.

Another option would be a more limited seasonal flu shot campaign, one that would target seniors and those with weakened immune systems, who are traditionally at highest risk of seasonal flu, but allow younger Canadians to skip it.

A third option would be to scrap the seasonal flu program altogether.

"All that is being studied now. But it should be decided rapidly," White told the Montreal Gazette.

She added that the decision will affect all Canadians: "It's not like Quebec won't vaccinate and Ontario will. It will be a pan-Canadian decision."

Most provinces had planned to go ahead with their seasonal flu vaccination programs this October, as scheduled. Swine flu vaccination programs likely wouldn't begin until mid-November, the earliest that the vaccine manufacturer will have it ready, tested and approved.

But infectious disease expert Dr. Neil Rau wonders whether having two vaccine programs will confuse patients, who might wonder about which shot they need and which shots they've already gotten. He says holding off on seasonal flu vaccines might be the best way to go.

"I think the people in Quebec are making a good decision because if you start going after seasonal and swine flu all at once, you end up giving -- especially kids -- a huge number of needles," Rau told CTV News Channel Wednesday.

"I have a feeling that all of Canada is going to go this way and maybe other countries will do the same."

Meanwhile, there are still worries that the swine flu vaccination program won't be effective, since the vaccine is expected to arrive at clinics and doctors' offices after the flu's long-discussed "second wave" has already peaked. Swine flu activity is already picking up again in the southern United States and parts of Canada, including Vancouver Island.

And, it's still not certain whether seasonal flu viruses will continue to be "crowded out" by swine flu. While World Health Organization laboratories report they are not receiving many reports of seasonal flu infections, it may be too soon to say whether that will remain the case.

The dilemma of whether to advise Canadians to get two flu shots will likely take care of itself by next year. Flu experts who advise the World Health Organization are now urging vaccine manufacturers in the Southern Hemisphere to drop one of the older strains of flu from the seasonal flu vaccine for next year's winter, to include the new swine flu pandemic H1N1 strain.

Manufacturers in the Northern Hemisphere would likely follow suit, depending on the flu activity by then.

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Canada mulls delaying or canceling seasonal flu vaccination

Re: Canada mulls delaying or canceling seasonal flu vaccination

Another option would be a more limited seasonal flu shot campaign, one that would target seniors and those with weakened immune systems, who are traditionally at highest risk of seasonal flu, but allow younger Canadians to skip it.

That seems reasonable, given that H3N2 is usually hard on seniors and B can be especially nasty also.

.

 

[Snowy Owl]

Re: Canada mulls delaying or canceling seasonal flu vaccination

Re: Canada mulls delaying or canceling seasonal flu vaccination

Health and Social Services is a Provincial Juridiction.

If Qu?bec scrap the seasonnial vaccine or the H1N1 vaccine with adjuvant AS03 for instance, it can do so.

I just hope that Canada will follow.

Snowy Owl

 

[FluPhobic]

Flu Shot Plans vary Across Canada

Flu Shot Plans vary Across Canada

Flu shot plans vary across Canada


Provinces and territories appear to have no standard approach to flu vaccination as they attempt to respond to preliminary research suggesting people who have had seasonal flu shots might be at greater risk of catching swine flu.

Ontario's chief medical officer of health announced a three-pronged approach to flu vaccination in the province Thursday:

- Seasonal flu vaccinations for people older than 65 and residents of long-term care homes will take place in October, given these groups are considered to be at greater risk from that flu than from swine flu.

- A wider swine flu vaccination campaign for the rest of the population starting in November, when a vaccine becomes available against the H1N1 influenza A virus, the swine flu strain that has been spreading worldwide since April.

- Seasonal flu vaccinations for people younger than 65 ? but only after the H1N1 shots have been given.

A similar approach of delaying seasonal flu vaccination has been adopted by Quebec, which will hold off seasonal flu shots until January, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia. Other provinces, including British Columbia, are also considering it.

But Manitoba and New Brunswick will focus most of their efforts on rolling out one mass vaccination campaign against swine flu.

Newfoundland and Labrador has recommended the seasonal flu shot be given out starting in October to anyone over the age of 65, residents of long-term care homes and adults and children with chronic heart or lung disease. The province plans to offer swine flu shots starting in November, or earlier if deemed necessary.

Most provinces and territories have been reviewing their vaccination plans since Canadian researchers found people who had received the seasonal flu vaccine in the past were twice as likely to get the H1N1 virus. The research has not yet been peer reviewed or published.

Call for national approach

Theoretically, antibodies created by the immune system after exposure to bacteria or a virus can facilitate the entry of another strain of the virus or disease. The effect has been seen for other viral vaccinations but never for influenza, said Dr. Donald Low, chief microbiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

"I think it's a reason that it would be great to have a national policy on this because we're now hearing messages from different provinces about different approaches to this issue with these new results that have come out," Low said Friday. "That is also going to confuse individuals," especially since the data is confusing to doctors and medical researchers as well.

But none of the scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have seen the seasonal flu shot effect, spokesman Tom Skinner said Friday. And researchers in both Australia and Britain said they have not seen it.

The CDC is recommending that vaccinations for both seasonal and H1N1 flu go ahead as quickly as possible.

http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/cbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=21911903

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Canada mulls delaying or canceling seasonal flu vaccination

Re: Canada mulls delaying or canceling seasonal flu vaccination

Three Canada provinces delay seasonal flu vaccine

Fri Sep 25, 2009

By Rod Nickel

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Three Canadian provinces have delayed their seasonal flu vaccination programs for most residents, citing unpublished studies that link the vaccine to H1N1 swine flu.

Preliminary Canadian research suggests people who have had seasonal flu shots could be at a greater risk of catching swine flu. However, federal health officials are skeptical, with Canada's top doctor saying on Friday that other countries have also studied the possible link and not made the same finding.

"I'm not worried about the seasonal vaccine," said Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer, adding, "I think a lot more work needs to be done."

Health officials were examining the studies' results, Butler-Jones said.

Researchers said this week that their preliminary studies, which have not been published or peer-reviewed, suggest people who had received a seasonal flu vaccine in the past were twice as likely to get the H1N1 virus, according to media reports.

Responsibility for seasonal flu vaccinations falls to the provinces, while the federal government has taken the lead against the H1N1 pandemic virus.

Butler-Jones said he personally will be getting both the seasonal and pandemic flu vaccines as soon as they're ready.

"(A link between the two) is all speculative," he said.

On Thursday, Ontario became the first province to delay seasonal flu vaccines and will only provide those shots ahead of an H1N1 vaccination to people over 65, who are seen being at a higher risk.

Seasonal flu vaccine will be available to the rest of the province after the H1N1 flu vaccination, starting in November.

The provinces of Quebec and Saskatchewan took similar steps on Friday.

The H1N1 flu pandemic has killed 78 people in Canada.

http://www.reuters.com/article/swin...S&feedName=swineFlu&virtualBrandChannel=10521