Vaccination against A(H1N1) influenza, or swine flu, will not eliminate all risk posed by the virus as there have been cases of individuals dying even after receiving vaccinations for other forms of flu, Department of Health (DOH) Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) said yesterday.
“The same thing can be expected when the swine flu vaccine becomes available,” Yaung told a press conference yesterday, referring to the locally produced A(H1N1) flu vaccine, which is scheduled to hit the market by mid-November. “However, I would still recommend getting vaccinated because vaccines can still sufficiently protect us from being infected.”
Local biopharmaceutical firm Adimmune Corp (國光生技) won the DOH’s tender to produce 10 million doses of vaccine. However, because the company does not have experience manufacturing its own vaccine, some health experts, including former Centers for Disease Control (CDC) director-general Su Ih-jen (蘇益仁), have questioned the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.
Yaung yesterday urged the public not to panic over the flu.
“A swine flu patient does not necessarily need Tamiflu. The most important thing is to follow your doctor’s instructions and stay at home until you recover,” he said.
At the same setting, CDC Director-General Steve Kuo (郭旭崧) said it was incorrect to cover one’s mouth or nose with the hands when coughing or sniffling because this would spread germs to more people.
“The correct behavior is to cover your mouth and nose with a handkerchief, tissue paper or even your own clothes,” he said.
“When you cover coughing or sniffing with your hands, but do not wash your hands immediately, you may spread the germs to more people through everything you touch and every hand you shake,” he said.
Meanwhile, starting yesterday, the nation’s “severe” cases of swine flu have been reclassified as “hospitalized” cases to more accurately reflect the state of the patients, health officials said.
“In the past, we referred to a swine flu case with complications, such as pneumonia, meningitis or myocarditis as ‘severe,’ but most of these complications were mild. Consequently, it was not precise to call it a ‘severe’ case,” DOH Deputy Minister Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳) said on Thursday. “The category has been renamed to ‘hospitalized’ cases.”
Kuo said that even people who stay in intensive care units (ICUs) are not necessarily in a severe condition.
“Some A(H1N1) patients were placed in ICUs mainly because hospital management adopted a very cautious approach, while in several other cases patients opted to stay in ICUs to save money on hiring caregivers,” Kuo said.
In the future, he said, the DOH would identify truly severe swine flu patients in terms of clinical data.
Health analysts said the renaming may be part of the DOH’s efforts to avoid causing public panic as the number of swine flu infections has continued to rise in Taiwan.
Five more “hospitalized” A(H1N1) cases were confirmed on Thursday, bringing to 52 the total number recorded in the country, the latest statistics released by the Central Epidemic Command Center showed.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
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