Ottawa prepares to help U.S. on flu shots

dr. what · Post by **dr. what** » 2004-10-19 12:18pm

Link

Canada is willing to ship millions of flu shots south of the border to ease panic in the United States over a vaccine shortage, but health officials warn that the process might take months and would fill only a tiny fraction of the U.S. demand.

Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh publicly extended the offer yesterday, although he cautioned that the assistance would depend on whether Canada has enough surplus vaccine.

"Our first priority is the availability of flu vaccine for Canadians, and if there's anything we can spare for our American neighbours and friends. If we can share it in a way that doesn't jeopardize the safety and supply for Canadians, we would do so," he said.

Dr. David Butler-Jones, Chief Public Health Officer, said cross-border talks are already under way that might allow the United States to import about 1.2 million vaccine doses from a Canadian manufacturer's stockpile and possibly another million doses from Canada's public supply.

Provinces, territories and the federal government have bought about nine million or 10 million doses for this flu season, Dr. Butler-Jones said, and health officials will watch closely in the coming weeks to gauge how quickly Canadians are using that supply.

In the meantime, he said, Health Canada is working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in hopes of quickly approving for use by the United States the vaccines used in Canada, which are produced by Vancouver-based ID Biomedical Corp. and the French manufacturer Aventis Pasteur. As well, the national public health agencies of both countries are in talks. A representative of Canada's new public health agency said details have not yet been worked out on how the vaccine would get to the United States.

The private stockpile could be shipped south immediately after licensing is complete, but Dr. Butler-Jones said any assistance from government supplies might take until "after Christmas," depending on how much vaccine Canadians use.

"If it appears that our needs are going to be well-met and there is some surplus available, and the licensing issues have been able to be addressed by the FDA, then obviously we would try to help," Dr. Butler-Jones said. "But there are a lot of ifs in that statement."

Almost half the U.S. vaccine supply has been cut off because of problems at a drug factory that was supposed to provide about 48 million flu shots this season.

Concerns over the shortage have reached such a fever pitch that U.S. officials are asking seniors to stop lining up outside flu clinics.

"We want people to relax," U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said yesterday.

An elderly woman collapsed and died Friday during a long wait with hundreds of others for flu shots at a California supermarket. There have been reports of price gouging and profiteering, and several states have started threatening medical staff with fines or jail if they squander flu shots on healthy, low-risk people.

Some U.S. citizens are travelling to Canada for shots. Ontario and Alberta have restricted U.S. visitors from using the publicly purchased vaccines, and Nova Scotia has sent a letter to doctors reminding them that government-funded vaccines are for residents of that province only.

But Americans can buy flu shots for prices in the $20 range at pharmacies and clinics that bought private vaccine supplies.

Larry Preddy of Estevan, Sask., has operated a pharmacy less than 15 kilometres from the U.S. border since 1985, and he's never had so many Americans asking for his flu vaccines.

Last week, a group of goose hunters from Florida dropped by for vaccinations, some in full camouflage gear. "They looked like a SWAT team," he said.

Some of the U.S. customers visiting his pharmacy seem disgruntled with U.S. health care, Mr. Preddy said. "One guy said, 'Good for you guys, our health system stinks.' ''

Some of the vaccine that could make its way south is from ID Biomedical, which has some left over after delivering a supply to the Canadian government, a company spokesman said.

Dr. Butler-Jones said the public supply can probably contribute another million doses, although he did not say how the vaccine could be spared.

"In terms of our potential contribution, there's a million and a bit doses from ID Biomedical," Dr. Butler-Jones said. "[Canada] might be able to free up a million doses depending on Canadian needs, so we're talking about a small contribution."

Mr. Dosanjh said Canada will not suffer a shortage, and Dr. Butler-Jones suggested that other countries could learn from Canada's excellent system of immunization.

The shortage afflicting the United States probably wouldn't happen north of the border, Dr. Butler-Jones said, because Canada's manufacturers are reliable and the needs are smaller.

"When we think of the Americans, if they lose half their supply, they need between 40 [million] or 50 million doses," he said. "Here in Canada, it's one-tenth of that, so if we need to go on the world market and get vaccines licensed or whatever, we'd be looking for a few million doses, not tens of millions of doses, so there's a little bit more flexibility here."

He added: "But we do know we've had an excellent track record with our manufacturers and even at times when other countries have had a challenge we've been successful in managing it."

But Dr. Ian Gemmill, co-chairman of the Canadian Coalition for Influenza Immunization, said Canadians should not be too smug.

"I would love to think that this could never happen to us, but the bottom line is that what's happening to the Americans could happen to anyone," he said.

With reports from André Picard, AP and Reuters
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Geez--remember the second debate when Canada was Bad?

HORSTMAN: Mr. President, why did you block the reimportation of safer and inexpensive drugs from Canada which would have cut 40 to 60 percent off of the cost?

BUSH: I haven't yet. Just want to make sure they're safe. When a drug comes in from Canada, I want to make sure it cures you and doesn't kill you.

And that's why the FDA and that's why the surgeon general are looking very carefully to make sure it can be done in a safe way. I've got an obligation to make sure our government does everything we can to protect you.

And what my worry is is that, you know, it looks like it's from Canada, and it might be from a third world.

Then, of course, we got to the third debate where it was suddenly:

SCHIEFFER: New question, Mr. President, to you.

We are talking about protecting ourselves from the unexpected, but the flu season is suddenly upon us. Flu kills thousands of people every year.

Suddenly we find ourselves with a severe shortage of flu vaccine. How did that happen?

BUSH: Bob, we relied upon a company out of England to provide about half of the flu vaccines for the United States citizen, and it turned out that the vaccine they were producing was contaminated. And so we took the right action and didn't allow contaminated medicine into our country. We're working with Canada to hopefully -- that they'll produce a -- help us realize the vaccine necessary to make sure our citizens have got flu vaccinations during this upcoming season.

Which apparently came as a surprise to Canadian health officials as this was the first they heard about this request--indeed, the U.S. has still not officially or formally asked for Canada's help--the Health minister was responding because numerous clinics were being overwhelmed with phone calls from american citizens.

Eh--it's only 2 million doses--the U.S. will still need another 40+ million doses from somewhere else. I wonder what's going to happen?

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2004-10-19 12:32pm

This is a mess no doubt. I'm just wondering how much vaccine a nation with about 30 million people can supply quickly to a nation of 300 million?

Watch out, Canucks. You're next on the invasion list.

Mayabird · Post by **Mayabird** » 2004-10-19 12:50pm

I'll bet that there won't be many spare vaccines. A lot of people who probably never got a flu shot in their lives are probably fighting over them now that they're hearing about shortages. And now that they're hearing that any spares will be sent across the border...

brianeyci · Post by **brianeyci** » 2004-10-19 12:54pm

I saw on CBC yesterday that Canada usually has a 10 million vaccine supply, and 9 million have already been circulated, leaving 1 million that is usually ordered by doctors in case they run out.

Brian

Mange · Post by **Mange** » 2004-10-19 12:59pm

dr. what. Which I mentioned in an other thread, the shortage of flu vaccine isn't something that has only been affecting the U.S. this year. Here in Sweden, the government also relied on the same British company that manufactered the flu vaccine. There aren't that many suppliers of it. Also, here in Sweden all senior citizen (65 and older) recieves their flu shots for free, which has worsened the situation for the weakest since there isn't enough for everyone.

dr. what · Post by **dr. what** » 2004-10-19 01:16pm

Mange: Yeah--I was reading your thread about how this is also affecting other countries besides the States. How is the Swedish govt. handling the shortage? Have they tapped another company/country? The only reason Canada wasn't affected was because we have our own plant or a different supplier. Any other countries affected by this?

Brian & maya: It's a token effort at best--I suspect it's mostly just to score a few brownie points. Look at this quote from the original article:

Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh publicly extended the offer yesterday, although he cautioned that the assistance would depend on whether Canada has enough surplus vaccine.

"Our first priority is the availability of flu vaccine for Canadians, and if there's anything we can spare for our American neighbours and friends. If we can share it in a way that doesn't jeopardize the safety and supply for Canadians, we would do so," he said.

Call me cynical but I see that not as a 'Yes-for sure-definitely' but more of a 'You know--if we got a few cases lying around around christmas--maybe we'll be nice and send it over...' kind of statement.

There's about 1 million doses in the public supply but there's another million or so from a manufacturer.

Mayabird · Post by **Mayabird** » 2004-10-19 01:25pm

dr. what wrote: Brian & maya: It's a token effort at best--I suspect it's mostly just to score a few brownie points. Look at this quote from the original article:
<snip>

I know. I'm saying that there will be an even SMALLER supply though because people who never got shots before will suddenly want one because they hear about the shortages. The moment the word "rationing" gets spoken the first thing that comes to people's minds is "GIMME!" Gasoline rationing means that people start hordeing gas and getting as much as they can when they can. Flu shot rationing means people try to get shots even if they never gave a damn before.

It would be very ironic if this all turns out to be pointless because the scientists didn't correctly guess how the flu strains would mutate this year and the vaccines all turn out to be worthless anyway.

dr. what · Post by **dr. what** » 2004-10-19 01:39pm

Oh I agree with you mayabird--I seriously doubt there will be any doses left to send off to you guys when all this is over. With all the media attention we've been getting here about 'hordes of americans decending upon canadian clinics' you just know that everyone's going to freak. Hell--I wasn't planning to get a shot but I am now thanks to all the attention--"hey, it was my tax money that paid for that vaccine after all, right?" will become the new mantra about us canadians--and can you honestly blame us?

It would be ironic if a completely different strain shows up, wouldn't it? All this sound and furor over a worthless vaccine....

Mange · Post by **Mange** » 2004-10-19 05:44pm

dr. what wrote:Mange: Yeah--I was reading your thread about how this is also affecting other countries besides the States. How is the Swedish govt. handling the shortage? Have they tapped another company/country? The only reason Canada wasn't affected was because we have our own plant or a different supplier. Any other countries affected by this?

We have a domestic manufacturer and some hospitals had some in stock. What really struck Sweden hard is that vaccine was diverted to other countries as well. It seems as if the results wasn't that serious.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2004-10-19 10:00pm

Glocksman wrote:This is a mess no doubt. I'm just wondering how much vaccine a nation with about 30 million people can supply quickly to a nation of 300 million?

Watch out, Canucks. You're next on the invasion list.

No blood for life saving vaccine!