Article Archive Finland announces "swine flu" vaccinations to start from October
Finland announces "swine flu" vaccinations to start from October
Last Updated on Friday, 18 September 2009 08:57 Friday, 18 September 2009 08:49
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Finland has announced that it will start giving pregant women, children, the sick and elderly the „swine flu“ jab from October even though clinical trials on the vaccine have systematically excluded these very groups, focussing on „healthy adults“ and women who are not pregnant instead and even though medical experts from around the world have, in the meantime, warned of the dangers of using untested „adjuvants“.
The Finnish mainstream media continues to report mainly information contained in WHO press releases.
Here is the Finnish government announcement:
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
Press Release
17.9.2009 12.00
A proposal for the order of vaccination submitted
The first batch of vaccines intended for the prevention of influenza A(H1N1)v infections will arrive in Finland in October. The Pandemic Coordination Group appointed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has discussed the expert group's proposal for the order of administration of the vaccines and considers the proposed order justified. A bill on a Government Decree will be drafted based on the proposal, and the purpose is to decide on that on 24 September upon submission of the Minister of Health and Social Services, Paula Risikko.
The national expert group on the vaccination programme has drawn up a proposal for the order of vaccination, and it was dealt with in the Advisory Board on Communicable Diseases and the National Advisory Board on Social and Health Care Ethics. The order has been determined on medical grounds in the light of the present epidemiological knowledge, following the guidelines given in the plan for preparing for a pandemic. It is important to decide on the order since the vaccine is imported in small amounts, and it will take several months to carry out the vaccinations.
Health care staff and pregnant women will be vaccinated first According to the proposal the vaccine should first be administered to health and social care staff treating and caring for infected patients or patients exposed to infections, to ambulance staff, and to pharmacy staff attending to customers. Persons treating infected and emergency patients are in their work exposed to the virus to a far greater extent than other people, since people who have fallen ill are expressly advised to seek treatment from them. The vaccination of health care professionals will also protect those patients for whom the effect of the vaccine may be reduced because of their weakened resistance to infections.
The second group in order should be pregnant women. Although the majority of pregnant women will have a mild disease, they are however at a greater risk than their peers of developing a serious clinical picture.
The third group to be vaccinated should be persons aged from 6 months to 64 years belonging to a risk group due to their other illness. This group includes persons with a disease requiring regular medication: a heart disease, respiratory disease, metabolic disease, chronic hepatic or renal insufficiency, a disease or treatment reducing resistance, chronic neurological disease or myasthenia. In the age group of over 65 years the risk of falling ill with the disease is lower than in any other group of the population. In the group under 65 years the majority of those with a serious clinical picture or who have died of the disease had suffered from one of the chronic diseases mentioned above.
The fourth phase is to vaccinate healthy children aged from 6 to 35 months, since young children have a high morbidity rate, the disease in this age group has required more often than on average hospital care, and since they are efficient transmitters of the disease.
The fifth group in order to be vaccinated should be healthy children and young people aged from 3 to 24 years, as well as conscripts. A successful vaccination of young age classes is the most important means of limiting the spread of the pandemic in Finland. Vaccination of young people, thus preventing severe cases of the disease in this age group, will save many years of life.
The sixth group to be vaccinated is persons over65 years who belong to a risk group due to their other illness. In this age group, morbidity is in the light of the information obtained about the influenza A(H1N1)v virus clearly lower than in other age groups.
The pandemic situation will be reassessed before deciding on vaccination of the entire population It is possible to vaccinate the entire population during the autumn and winter. The situation and the need to vaccinate the whole population will however be assessed after we have seen how the situation develops. In case the epidemic situation still requires continuing the vaccination programme, the next group to be vaccinated will be healthy people aged 25 years and older, prioritising the younger age groups.
The local authorities will organise the vaccinations as a rule at the municipal health centres. People can themselves choose if they want to have the vaccination or not. The National Institute for Health and Welfare will inform the local authorities of the distribution of vaccines to municipalities, and the local authorities are responsible for informing about the local vaccination arrangements. On the basis of present information it is probable that the vaccination programme can be started towards the end of October.
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has decided on using the stockpiles purchased by the National Emergency Supply Agency so as to ensure a sufficient availability of antiviral medicines, also capsules for children. Furthermore, the National Agency for Medicines has issued instructions to pharmacies to prepare a solution of capsules for patients who are not able to swallow a capsule. The disease is in most cases mild, and people will recover from it without any antiviral prescription medicines. Therefore the instructions according to which medication should only be prescribed to persons who are especially in need of it are still observed in the prescription of antiviral medicines.
There is no epidemic caused by the influenza A(H1N1)v virus yet in Finland. Any rapid increases in the number of cases or extensive community-wide infections have not been observed. The diagnosed influenza A(H1N1)v virus infections number at present 244. The onset of the epidemic can be delayed if people observe the recommended hand and coughing hygiene and stay home when ill instead of attending day care or school or being at work.
For further information contact Merja Saarinen, Ministerial Counsellor for Health Affairs, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, tel. (09) 160 74030
Juhani Eskola, Director-General, National Institute for Health and Welfare, tel. 020 610 6006
Terhi Kilpi, Senior Medical Officer, National Institute for Health and Welfare, tel. 020 610 8678
Professor Eija Pelkonen, National Agency for Medicines, tel. (09) 4733 4210 (stockpiles of medicines)
Related topics http://www.stm.fi/en/h1n1
Related links
http://www.thl.fi/en_US/web/en/ah1n1v
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