Typhoon victims living at shelters a priority for flu vaccines

08/27/2009 (CNA)

Taipei, Aug. 26 (CNA) People displaced by Typhoon Morakot and are living in shelters or prefabricated houses will be the first in the country to be vaccinated against the new strain of influenza A(H1N1), the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced Wednesday.

The center, which is under the Cabinet-level Department of Health (DOH) , decided the order of people to be targeted for vaccination earlier in the day amid reports of a greater number of infections reported over the past few days.

Following typhoon victims, frontline medical care personnel were listed as the next most important group of people to be vaccinated, the CECC said.

They are followed by pregnant women, children aged 1 to 6, and patients aged 7 or above who suffer from severe diseases or wounds.

Next on the list are elementary school students, followed by junior high school students; senior high school students; young people aged 19-24; patients over 25 years old suffering from high-risk diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and diseases on the liver and kidney; healthy adults aged 25-49; healthy adults aged 50-64; and seniors aged 65 and older.

According to the state-sponsored Adimmune Corp., Taiwan's only producer of A(H1N1) flu vaccine, 5 million out of 10 million doses of A(H1N1) vaccine purchased by the DOH will be delivered by the end of October.

As a result, the inoculation can be launched in mid-November at the earliest, after the clinical trials are completed, it said.

However, the five million doses are only enough for everyone on the priority list down to and including junior high school students. Those further down the list will have to wait for the second batch of 5 million doses to become available by the end of December, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director General Steve Kuo said.

As the vaccine produced by Adimmune cannot be proven safe for infants under 12 months, they are not included in the vaccination order, CECC deputy commander Chang Shang-chun said, noting that the DOH will purchase other appropriate vaccines for the infants.

There are currently no tests, either on humans or animals, to see if the Adimmune-produced anti-A(H1N1) vaccines are safe for infants, Chang said.

Those not on the list also include people who had been infected but recovered because they already have antibodies against the new flu, he added.

According to CDC statistics, as of Wednesday, there have been 47 severe infections on record in Taiwan, five of which have resulted in death.

Among the severe infections, 16 patients were adults aged 25-49, while 12 were children aged between 12 months and 6 years. The two groups accounted for 60 percent of the total severe infections. (By Elizabeth Hsu)