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Officials of the Federal government believe that the swine flu vaccine that

would protect all Americans from future H1N1 outbreaks would be available

by January or late November at the earliest.

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wever, countries outside the United States and other nations that

manufacture vaccines would take several years to generate sufficient

vaccines to meet global demands.

Although manufacturing of the vaccine is faster than it was a few years

back, it may still not be enough to prevent death and illness if the

dreaded virus begins to spread and becomes virulent, experts predict.

In the United States, the main obstacle despite long years of effort

remains to be the 50-year old technology they use in manufacturing flu

vaccines. The Federal government had invested time and billions of dollars

shifting to a quicker and more reliable method.

One such procedure involves cultivating the vaccine viruses in vats of

cells instead of hen’s eggs. There are several small companies that are

developing new methods that would pave the way for the creation of large

volumes of vaccines in a span of weeks.

Dr. Greg Poland, who is the head of the vaccine research program at the

Mayo Clinic, admits that the cell-based cultivation technology is not yet

available while the never technologies have not yet been proven to satisfy

most experts.

In addition, government officials have also not yet decided on whether or

not H1N1 is a potential risk that demands production of vaccine. However,

they are implementing the initial steps. Andrin Oswald, Chief Executive of

the Vaccine Division of Novartis, revealed that one possible problem would

be the manufacture of vaccines for swine influenza could hamper the

production of seasonal flu vaccines for the coming winter. The most likely

thing to do is to compromise, according to Oswald.

However, Robin Robinson, who manages the Emergency Preparation Research

Program of the Department of Health and Human Services, believes that

majority of manufacturing efforts of vaccine makers would have been

completed by June.

According to Dr. Robinson, if the manufacture of the H1N1 vaccine would

commence after that, the first 50 million to 80 million would be ready by

September.

Dr. Robinson continued by saying that the entire 600 million doses, which

are sufficient to give the required two shots for every American would be

available by January. Adding the immune stimulant adjuvant to the vaccine

could greatly reduce the required dosage, paving the way for the

availability of the doses by the latter part of November.

The vaccine industry in the country is now very much capable of responding

to the outbreak than it was five years back, when there were only two

vaccine manufacturers and encountered a severe shortage. At present, there

are five manufacturers supplying vaccines to the domestic market. The

vaccine industry, which is used to be the backwater of the pharmaceutical

industry, is generating new investments, as a result of government

subsidies and higher cost for vaccines.

Despite of this, a World Health Organization and International Federation

of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations revealed that it would

still require four more years of manufacturing to meet global demands for a

vaccine that would provide protection against bird flu strain that has been

the major concern of health officials over the last few years. 

Finally, the Federal government is encouraging manufacturers to shift their

production in the United States, since all except Sanofi Aventis is now

importing swine flu vaccines.