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Paediatric Deaths Continue as Production of H1N1 Vaccine is Delayed By Denise Baez NEW YORK -- October 18, 2009 -- Production of the influenza A(H1N1) vaccine is facing significant delays, according to a media briefing held October 16 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Georgia. The delays come at a time when widespread H1N1 activity is being reported in 41 US states and paediatric deaths continue to increase in alarming numbers. Since August 30 there have been 43 reported paediatric deaths from influenza and 38 of those are known to be the H1N1 virus. Of those deaths, 10 alone were reported for the week ending October 10. “These are very sobering statistics,” said Anne Schuchat, MD, CDC. “Unfortunately, they are likely to increase.” Three of those deaths occurred in children aged under 2 years, 5 deaths were in children aged 2 to 4 years, 16 deaths were in children aged 5 to 11 years, and 19 of the deaths were in adolescents aged 12 to 17 years. “Forty-three deaths essentially in 1 month is a lot … this is a very brisk number,” she said. “Usually in a whole [flu] season that lasts from September to May, you would only have about 40 or 50 deaths, so in just 1 month’s time we’ve had that many.” States’ vaccination efforts face delays as the manufacturers report a slow-down in production. “There are many steps involved with producing vaccine, testing it, and then releasing the vaccine,” said Dr. Schuchat. “The companies are making unprecedented amounts of vaccine and the yield of the antigen has been lower than had been hoped for. They need to do potency testing and purity testing, and of course there’s lot release testing that the manufacturers do and that the FDA [US Food and Drug Administration] does. “We are not cutting any corners in the safety of the production of this vaccine or the testing and oversight of the vaccine, and it’s very important to us that this process be done carefully and safely,” she said. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to make those estimates that we had projected for the end of this month.” Dr. Schuchat said that there should be widespread availability of the vaccine by the end of October and early November for those who wish to get vaccinated. SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Media Briefing E-mail this page to a friend or colleague! To print, use this version