The EU will sign a contract on Tuesday to obtain nearly 40 million doses of a prophylactic avian flu vaccine for 15 nations, with the first supplies bound for Finland, EU officials announced on Monday.
The agreement secures up to 665,000 doses from vaccine maker CSL Seqirus, with an option for an additional 40 million doses for a maximum of four years. The vaccines will be acquired jointly by the Commission’s emergency health arm, HERA, and 15 EU and European Economic Area countries. The doses are meant for those who are most susceptible to the virus, such as poultry farm workers and veterinarians. Preventative vaccine doses are currently being secured in the US, Canada, and UK.
“When it comes to avian influenza, we are constantly and actively monitoring the situation…and tomorrow, together with our Member States, we will ensure access to over 40 million doses of avian influenza vaccine to protect those most vulnerable. Deliveries to nations with pressing needs are already on the way, according to EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides.
The H5N1 virus has spread across most US states, primarily harming poultry and recently over 80 dairy farms. So yet, no documented human-to-human transfers have occurred, despite the fact that three people in the United States have become affected after being exposed to infected animals since April 1.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reports that there are no active cases in humans or animals in the EU as of early June. “Transmission to humans remains a rare event, and no sustained transmission between humans has been observed so far,” the ECDC stated in a weekly report dated June 1-7. “The risk of zoonotic influenza transmission to the general public in EU/EEA countries is considered to be low.”
Through HERA, the Commission has already received 111 million doses of pandemic influenza vaccinations from GSK and Seqirus, which can be tailored to any current flu strain.
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