By Meagan Fitzpatrick, Canwest News Service
November 4, 2009 9:36 AM
OTTAWA — Canada is in a better position with one H1N1 vaccine manufacturer than other countries with multiple suppliers, federal officials said Tuesday, but the door could be open to other companies in the future to get a piece of the pandemic vaccine pie.
Canada's H1N1 vaccine is made exclusively by GlaxoSmithKline at its Ste-Foy, Que., factory and questions are being raised about how wise it is to rely on just one company to supply enough vaccine for the entire population.
Doubts about the 10-year contract that the federal government and the company signed in 2001 stem from the reduced supply of vaccine available to the provinces and territories this week. Two million doses were expected this week but GSK "overstated" how much would be shipped out, according to Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and about 400,000 doses were sent instead.
Despite the long lines and health units having to adjust their immunization plans at the last minute to adjust for the shortfall, Aglukkaq said Canada is still rolling out its H1N1 vaccine better than any other country.
"The domestic supplier I think has worked very well in our favour," she told a news conference in Vancouver. "In Canada, we are doing better than any other country in producing vaccine on a per-capita basis with one company."
Chief Public Health Officer Dr. David Butler-Jones said, however, that moving forward it will be considered whether there is an "additional advantage" to having another supplier to help "hedge our bets."
"That's something that we will come back to, to think about after we deal with what we've got now," he said.
GlaxoSmithKline also produces most of Canada's seasonal flu vaccine and, as directed by the federal government, had to finish making it first before starting the H1N1 vaccine. Another complication that resulted in the reduced amount of vaccine for this week is that the factory has one production line and was asked to make two versions of the vaccine. Switching from the vaccine with an adjuvant — a booster compound that improves the immune system's response to the vaccine — to making one without for a period of time and then switching back to producing the adjuvanted vaccine caused a slowdown.
When the vaccine contract was up for grabs in 2001, pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur could not bid on it because it does not have a plant in Canada. It does, however, have a factory in Toronto that can bring in bulk vaccine from its American plant and package it.
Rob Van Exan, director of immunization policy for the company, recently told the House of Commons health committee that Canada should consider having a second pandemic vaccine supplier in order to maximize the security of its supply.
"It's not to say that GSK is doing a lousy job," Van Exan told Canwest News Service in an interview this week. "Our position is about risk and, in the future, minimizing that risk by having two suppliers."
Flu vaccines are different than other vaccines because a new one is made every year to match whatever flu virus is circulating in a given year. There is more room for something to go wrong because of the variability, said Van Exan and the risk, in his opinion, should be spread around.
The vaccine contract with GSK was among the questions raised by Liberal MPs during an emergency debate on Monday night and they kept up their attack on the government's handling of the pandemic again Tuesday during question period.
As the political bickering over H1N1 continued, the death toll rose again. Three more British Columbians have died, health officials there said Tuesday, bringing the province's total to 15. The Public Health Agency of Canada reported Tuesday morning that the national death toll is at 101.
Swine flu is continuing to ramp up and more Canadians are getting sick, particularly younger people, said Butler-Jones.
"While H1N1 can strike anyone this is a younger person's disease by and large," he said.
The Montreal Children's Hospital has seen such a spike in demand in its emergency room that it has had to close some outpatient clinics and its blood testing centre in order to redeploy staff.
In Saskatchewan, meanwhile, plans are underway to expand priority groups for immunization to include children up to Grade 6 starting later this week. So far the targeted groups have included children only up to age five.
It is up to regional health authorities to decide, but it is expected school-based clinics will be used to immunize children and consent forms have been prepared to send home to parents.
Alberta announced it will re-open its immunization clinics on Thursday for children between six months and five years old only, and for pregnant women on Friday. Clinics have been closed since Saturday after they were overwhelmed with people. The province was initially offering the shot to everyone instead of targeting people at high-risk like other provinces.
In Ontario, the swine flu has taken hold of the aboriginal community of Kashechewan where there are nine residents confirmed with H1N1 flu and more than 100 suspected cases. Health workers quickly used up 800 vaccines and are busy administering another 500 that were received over the weekend.
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
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