Swine flu round up - September 25, 2009
All Nature’s pandemic flu coverage is collected on our news special page. These regular updates on The Great Beyond round up the latest from other news sources around the globe.
The European Medicines Agency has recommended the approval of two H1N1 vaccines. Both Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline should shortly see European Union-wide marketing authorisations from European Commission for their products.
The agency follows hot on the heals of the US FDA, which recently approved four vaccines, from CSL, MedImmune, Novartis, and Sanofi Pasteur.
Officials in the US also confirmed this week that the number of vaccine doses likely to be available will be twice as high as previously believed. Between six and seven million doses will be available, rather than 3.4 million (AP).
Now the job is to get people to come and get jabbed, says Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
"Taking the risk and getting sick is probably not a wise roll of the dice,” she says (Reuters). “People can die, and the people who are going to be ill and die are much more likely to be children and young adults.”
Meanwhile, the White House has announced that ‘The H1N1 Rap’ by John Clarke, Medical Director for the Long Island Railroad, was the winning entry in its video contest. Enjoy.
