US officials charged with preparing the country for influenza pandemics conclude that the stored H7N9 vaccine doesn’t adequately protect against a new branch of this virus family, and a new vaccine is needed.
March 3rd, 2017“…the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, said the H7N9 vaccine in the [US Strategic National Stockpile (SNS)] would not fend off a new family of these viruses that has emerged in China, known as the eastern or Yangtze River Delta lineage of the viruses….”
- The H7N9 virus is evolving and has essentially split into two groups that are now different enough that vaccine for one might not protect very well against viruses from the other.
- The US stockpile currently contains enough vaccines to inoculate about 12 million people against the older lineage of H7N9, the southern or Pearl River Delta viruses.
- The vaccines in the pandemic flu stockpile are intended to protect first responders in the case one of the highest-risk bird flu viruses triggers a pandemic. BARDA’s policy is to maintain enough vaccine for each of these top threats to be able to vaccinate 20 million people. As each person would need both a primer and a booster dose, that means 40 million doses of vaccine for each viral threat.