A H1N1 vaccine could be produced within three months, the Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday, adding that the department would purchase 5 million seasonal flu vaccines this year to help the country prevent a swine flu epidemic this winter.
In a race against time to combat swine flu, governments worldwide are rushing to develop a vaccine for the H1N1 virus, DOH Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) told a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan.
“The DOH will obtain a strain of the virus from the British health administration by May 20 … If everything goes smoothly, the nation will be able to mass-produce swine flu vaccines in three months at the earliest,” Yeh said.
PHOTO: CNA
Yeh said the DOH had asked the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, the US’ Centers for Disease Control and Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for aid in obtaining the viral strain, adding that the UK had been the first to respond.
To prevent widespread flu infections in winter — when the H1N1 virus is also expected to spread more rapidly — and because more people are expected to request the seasonal flu vaccine this year, Yeh said the DOH would purchase 5 million shots this year, versus last year’s 3.2 million, to meet demand.
“Children, the elderly, medical or animal industry professionals, and those with major illnesses will still have priority for free vaccines. When they have received their shots, the remaining vaccines will be given to the general public,” he said.
Yeh reminded the public not to panic over a possible swine flu outbreak, adding that people should not hoard face masks or take Tamiflu when they are not sick.
“There will be enough face masks for everyone. I bought two for NT$18 today at a pharmacy near my house,” Yeh said.
Two million face masks from the nation’s stockpile will hit the shelves at the four major convenience stores — 7-Eleven, Hi-Life, Family Mart and OK Mart — by noon today.
After an interdisciplinary meeting with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Central Epidemics Command Center set a uniform price for face masks at NT$30 per pack of five, he said.
“Tamiflu is for people who are sick or possibly sick with the flu. Healthy individuals should refrain from taking the medicine lest they develop a drug resistance,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday morning issued a “yellow” travel alert for Colombia and El Salvador after the countries confirmed cases of swine flu.
So far, Mexico remains the only country under “red” alert, meaning that the government is warning against all non-essential travel. Yellow means the government advises all travelers to those countries to take extra sanitation precautions.
The Taiwanese representative office in Mexico City is scheduled to begin operations tomorrow after suspending services last Friday.
The other 16 countries included in the “yellow” category include the US, Canada, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Spain, Israel, the UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, South Korea, France, Denmark, Ireland and Italy.
The ministry said it had not received any instruction from the Presidential Office to cancel President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) upcoming trip to El Salvador to attend the presidential inauguration on June 1.
The Central Epidemics Command Center will provide updates on the swine flu outbreak every day at 7pm and 9pm on national radio, cable and terrestrial TV stations.
The Government Information Office yesterday said that the two-month updates began yesterday and each broadcast lasts one minute.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JENNY W. HSU AND CNA
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