Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
EURASIA INSIGHT
GEORGIA: TBILISI FINALLY GETTING SWINE FLU VACCINE
Giorgi Lomsadze 3/29/10
It might be a case of better late than never. Georgia is due to receive its first batch of Swine Flu vaccine, just as the influenza season is drawing to a close.
Georgia has not been particularly hard-hit by the H1N1 virus so far. The country has officially recorded less than 1,300 cases of Swine Flu since July, 2009, when the first diagnosis was registered. Even so, the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health has attributed 33 deaths to the virus.
Tengiz Tsertsvadze, head of the Infectious Pathologies, AIDS and Clinical Immunology Center in Tbilisi, said that Georgian government took aggressive and effective action to prevent an H1N1 epidemic. "There have been good mechanisms put in place for early detection and treatment of the virus. ... Compared to other countries in the region, [Georgian] authorities managed to contain the virus? spread."
Approximately 100,000 doses of a vaccine produced by the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline are expected to arrive in Georgia by the end of March. A vaccination program is still being developed.
The relatively late appearance of a vaccine appears to be related to several factors in Georgia. For one, there seems to be strong doubts within the Georgian medical establishment that a vaccine is most financially efficient way to combat the H1N1 virus. Many believe that powerful international pharmaceutical companies have an interest in stoking worries about swine flu.
"H1N1 is just another A-type influenza that appears every flu season" one Tbilisi doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity, told EurasiaNet.
Officially, Georgian authorities would not clear a vaccine for use in Georgia until it gained World Health Organization approval. "We wanted to make sure that the WHO says that these vaccines, which are new, are safe and effective for use," said Paata Imnadze, the director of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDCPH). Georgia is obtaining the vaccines under a WHO program to help immunization efforts in developing countries.
/.../
More at:
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav032910.shtml
GEORGIA: TBILISI FINALLY GETTING SWINE FLU VACCINE
Giorgi Lomsadze 3/29/10
It might be a case of better late than never. Georgia is due to receive its first batch of Swine Flu vaccine, just as the influenza season is drawing to a close.
Georgia has not been particularly hard-hit by the H1N1 virus so far. The country has officially recorded less than 1,300 cases of Swine Flu since July, 2009, when the first diagnosis was registered. Even so, the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health has attributed 33 deaths to the virus.
Tengiz Tsertsvadze, head of the Infectious Pathologies, AIDS and Clinical Immunology Center in Tbilisi, said that Georgian government took aggressive and effective action to prevent an H1N1 epidemic. "There have been good mechanisms put in place for early detection and treatment of the virus. ... Compared to other countries in the region, [Georgian] authorities managed to contain the virus? spread."
Approximately 100,000 doses of a vaccine produced by the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline are expected to arrive in Georgia by the end of March. A vaccination program is still being developed.
The relatively late appearance of a vaccine appears to be related to several factors in Georgia. For one, there seems to be strong doubts within the Georgian medical establishment that a vaccine is most financially efficient way to combat the H1N1 virus. Many believe that powerful international pharmaceutical companies have an interest in stoking worries about swine flu.
"H1N1 is just another A-type influenza that appears every flu season" one Tbilisi doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity, told EurasiaNet.
Officially, Georgian authorities would not clear a vaccine for use in Georgia until it gained World Health Organization approval. "We wanted to make sure that the WHO says that these vaccines, which are new, are safe and effective for use," said Paata Imnadze, the director of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDCPH). Georgia is obtaining the vaccines under a WHO program to help immunization efforts in developing countries.
/.../
More at:
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav032910.shtml