HOW long more do we have to wait for a publicly-available A(H1N1) influenza vaccine? Anytime from March to April, says Sanofi-Aventis medical manager (Malaysia/Singapore/Brunei) Dr Shree Jacob.
If this is news to you, it’s probably, and understandably, because you were caught up in Christmas festivities and didn’t manage to catch our news report about it on Friday
Seasonal, not pandemic
The formulation due to arrive in March/April is the routinely produced southern hemisphere trivalent seasonal influenza vaccine, which arrives every year around the same time.
This year, it will contain a component that is protectective against the A(H1N1) strain currently circulating. The new formulation is different from the expedited pandemic A(H1N1) monovalent vaccine that is due to arrive in January.
“Monovalent” here means the pandemic flu vaccine contains just one viral strain ie the A(H1N1) strain everybody has been so worried about. “Trivalent” means the seasonal flu vaccine contains three viral strains.
One of the three strains is the A/California/7/2009-like strain, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended for inclusion in the seasonal vaccine back in Sept.
This strain closely resembles the A(H1N1) strain currently circulating and will protect recipients against it, confirms technical officer with the WHO Representative Office for Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, and Singapore, Dr Harpal Singh.
Available, at a price
Unlike the pandemic A(H1N1) vaccine due to arrive in Jan, which will only be available from public hospitals and clinics to frontliners and high-risk groups, the new seasonal vaccine will be available as usual to the general public (as long as they can pay for it) through private hospitals and clinics that stock it.
Normally, the seasonal flu vaccine costs below RM100. (Between RM40 and RM60, consultant cardiologist Datuk Dr Khoo Kah Lin told us a while back.)
Their arrival is good news, says recently appointed Health Ministry disease control director Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman.
“We very much welcome these new seasonal vaccines, which should also protect against A(H1N1). The public will now have access to the vaccine,” he told Fit4Life.
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