U.S. Unsure Whether to Cancel, Sell Off H1N1 Vaccine Orders

[Pathfinder]

U.S. Unsure Whether to Cancel, Sell Off H1N1 Vaccine Orders

Friday, January 08, 2010

The United States has made no decision on whether to cancel or sell any of its orders for the H1N1 vaccine, unlike some European countries with a vast oversupply of shots, a federal health official said on Thursday.

Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said demand remains steady and the government's focus is on getting as many people vaccinated as possible.

New infections of H1N1 influenza have fallen sharply in recent weeks, leaving some governments with an oversupply of vaccines ordered to protect against the virus that emerged last spring.

"Right now we are at a point where we have ample supply," Schuchat told a media briefing. "We're really encouraging people to get vaccinated.

"So we haven't made decisions here in the U.S. about giving back vaccines," she added.

Germany plans to cancel half the 50 million H1N1 vaccines it ordered from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) , a German health official said on Thursday. Germany was left with an oversupply of vaccine because doctors originally expected that two injections would be needed for immunity instead of one.

Earlier this week, France canceled over half the H1N1 flu vaccines it had ordered to head off criticism after reserving too many shots.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has come under fire for having miscalculated how much vaccine would initially become available and when.

The government has paid for 251 million doses of bulk vaccine from five makers ? Glaxo, AstraZeneca, Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis and CSL Ltd.

The United States has 136 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine, up from 100 million last month and at least 50 million people have been vaccinated, said Schuchat, head of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

The CDC estimates that 47 million Americans have been infected with H1N1, nearly 10,000 have been killed by it and more than 200,000 hospitalized.

In a typical year, seasonal influenza kills 36,000 Americans and puts 200,000 into the hospital.

The swine flu pandemic peaked in October and has since ebbed, but influenza can hit several peaks in a single season. The virus is still circulating, Schuchat said.

The CDC plans to start a campaign next week to encourage everyone to get an H1N1 vaccine.

"Having as many people vaccinated as possible is our best course of action, even if we can't read the tea leaves of the future," Schuchat said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,582553,00.html

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: U.S. Unsure Whether to Cancel, Sell Off H1N1 Vaccine Orders

U.S. Trims H1N1 Vaccine Order From CSL as Global Interest Wanes

By Simeon Bennett
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) --

The U.S. government wants less than half the swine flu vaccine it originally sought from CSL Ltd., joining countries such as France and Germany in canceling orders amid waning public concern about the influenza pandemic.

The Department of Health and Human Services told Melbourne- based CSL on Dec. 30 it was cutting its order for vaccine against the H1N1 strain by 22 million doses to 14 million doses, CSL spokeswoman Rachel David said in an e-mail today. Vaccine- makers including London-based GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Baxter International Inc., of Deerfield, Illinois, also had orders cut even as governments stepped up efforts to promote the shot.

Vaccine demand has waned since suppliers overcame an initial shortage at the start of the Northern Hemisphere flu season and the number of new H1N1 cases fell. The U.S. government, which increased its vaccine order by 29 percent in September, is running advertisements in national newspapers featuring an open letter urging Americans to get the vaccine.

?The willingness to be vaccinated against swine flu is much lower than what governments projected,? said Andrew Goodsall, a health-care analyst with UBS AG in Sydney. Goodsall estimates the smaller order will trim as much as A$30 million ($28 million) from CSL?s full-year net income.

The U.S. is allowed to change the quantity of its order under its contract with CSL, David said. The company?s contracts with other governments, including Australia and Singapore, don?t contain so-called stop work orders, she said. Excess vaccine material will be used in the production of seasonal flu shots, David said.

Financial Impact

The ?financial impact cannot be known until the pandemic and seasonal programs have run their course, but is not expected to be major,? she said.

CSL fell 18 cents, or 0.6 percent, to A$31.93 on the Australian stock exchange today, compared with a 0.8 percent increase in the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index.

Glaxo said Jan. 4 it is willing to renegotiate its contract to provide France with 50 million doses of H1N1 vaccine after the government overestimated its needs. Four days later, David Salisbury, director of immunization for the U.K.?s Department of Health, said it was in talks with Glaxo, the nation?s largest drugmaker, about canceling some of its order. The drugmaker said it was also in discussion with Belgium to reduce an order.

To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: January 11, 2010 01:15 ES

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20670001&sid=aNl27tKpye4gT

 

[gsgs]

Re: U.S. Unsure Whether to Cancel, Sell Off H1N1 Vaccine Orders

mix it into the seasonal vax ? optional at low doses
or/and into other injections


who doesn't want the vaccine may consider to get a low dose
(and then maybe another one later...)

they could make vaccination automats - at some low level
no more doctor is required

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: U.S. Unsure Whether to Cancel, Sell Off H1N1 Vaccine Orders

Sanofi says no change in its H1N1 U.S. contracts

LONDON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA) is meeting all its U.S. contracts for sales of swine flu vaccine, despite Washington's decision to cut supplies from rival drugmaker CSL (CSL.AX), a company spokesman said on Monday.

"We are fulfilling all our contracts with the U.S. government, so there is no change," said Pascal Barollier at the French group's vaccine unit Sanofi Pasteur.

Sanofi is the leading supplier of flu vaccine to the U.S. market.

Earlier, Australian company CSL said its order for vaccine from the United States had been cut in half in the latest example of governments around the world cancelling orders in the face of low demand. [ID:nSGE60A0DK]

Different manufacturers have different contracts with governments. Some contain break clauses allowing customers to reduce the size of orders.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Dan Lalor)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE60A20320100111