A/H1N1 Vaccine Trials Will Give Patients a Shot
As a recent MSNBC.com article discusses, there is now increasing concern that the U.S. may NOT have adequate stores of A/H1N1 influenza vaccine this fall for an additional reason. We currently make very little flu vaccine in the United States. There is some thought that other countries may be reluctant to allow their companies to ship to us while their own population lacks protection.
Although this is just conjecture at this moment, it gives added impetus to the trials which PPR and other research centers will run in the coming weeks and months. Even with the inclusion of a placebo group in all the pandemic flu studies, patients who enroll will still have an 85-90% chance of potentially receiving protection against this pandemic as opposed to their 0% chance at the moment. We all hope that the fears expressed in the article don't come to fruition but, at the least, enrollment in the national trials will give patients a shot at (pun intended) early protection. In addition, it may be their only chance if shortages do occur.
In addition, there is no desire to create added hysteria but, at this time, there is no way to predict how severe the disease may be this fall. If it follows the course of previous pandemics, we may see increased illness severity and increased deaths upon its return. We also should be mindful that the young are at greater risk than the elderly (as opposed to seasonal flu) to this point so children would benefit greatly. Finally, although the disease has dropped off the front page of newspapers at this time, it is spreading widely in the southern hemisphere, especially in Argentina, Chile and Australia.
One final point can be made re all the flu trials (except for MedImmune which uses a live but attenuated vaccine). Since the vaccines are not live vaccines, patients can be told that they CAN'T catch the disease from the vaccine. Several people have already raised this point with me.
Mark M. Blatter, M.D.
Medical Director
Primary Physicians Research