U.K. Tells Doctors to Use Stockpiled Vaccines (Wall St J)

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U.K. Tells Doctors to Use Stockpiled Vaccines By STEN STOVALL

LONDON—U.K. health officials Thursday told the country's doctors to use

stockpiled pandemic flu vaccine where appropriate to help cope with a shortage

of seasonal flu medicine.

Interim Chief Medical Officer Sally Davies said the move was needed due to a

" mismatch " of demand for influenza vaccines and a lack of supply in certain

parts of Britain.

" We find there is a mismatch—that there are patients who are not getting

vaccines when they wanted them, " Dame Sally told journalists.

" We do believe there is vaccine in the system, but we are still encouraging

people to come forward and it's important to increase the access to vaccine. "

The government's move comes amid evidence that flu is spreading across the U.K.

as well as a number of European countries. The main circulating forms of

influenza are the H1N1 swine flu strain and Influenza B.

Britain's stockpile comprises 12.7 million doses of GlaxoKline PLC's

Pandemerix, containing only the H1N1 strain. The seasonal flu vaccine that is in

short supply in the U.K. contains three flu strains—H1N1, Influenza A and B.

The jump in cases of severe influenza has put pressure on some intensive care

units in the U.K., with such patients now occupying more than 20% of intensive

care space.

Some doctors' surgeries in parts of Britain are running out of flu vaccines,

prompting Thursday's decision to release supplies of pandemic vaccines

stockpiled last year during the swine flu epidemic, which turned out to be

milder than many had feared. The government says the stockpiled vaccines are

still safe and won't expire until late 2011.

The U.K.'s coalition government is keen to avoid a public health crisis over the

issue.

" The way it works in this country is that GPs are responsible for ordering in

advance a flu vaccine, which they did this year, " Prime Minister Cameron

said when asked about the subject by journalists.

" Clearly those stocks are being used up and in some places, yes there have been

some shortages, and the Department of Health has been looking urgently and

working hard to work out how we can help address that issue, " he said.

Vaccine manufacturers delivered around 14.7 million doses of seasonal flu

vaccine to the U.K. this year, a similar amount to that in each of the previous

two years. Of that total, 10% was distributed in Scotland with the remainder

earmarked for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, according The U.K. Vaccine

Industry Group, or UVIG.

Manufacturers can't make more vaccine to order in time for this winter because

it takes six months to produce.

A spokesman for Sanofi Pasteur MSD, one of the manufacturers within UVIG, said

the company had only " a few thousand " of one particular type of vaccine left,

called Intanza, which was only licensed for patients aged 60 or over. He said

stocks of other types had run out. Sanofi Pasteur MSD is a joint venture between

Sanofi Pasteur, a unit of Sanofi-Aventis, and Merck & Co.

The situation in Britain underscores the need for greater efforts to encourage

vaccination, not only for at-risk groups like very young children and pregnant

women but also health-care workers, the European Society of Clinical

Microbiology and Infectious Diseases said Thursday.

" There are concerns that what is happening in the U.K. could be mirrored in

other parts of Europe with France, the Russian Federation and Ukraine already

reporting influenza rates above their usual thresholds, " the non-profit

organization said.

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