IDSA, SHEA push for strengthened effort for pandemic vaccines

September 2006

The Infectious Diseases Society of America and Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America recommended that stronger efforts to develop pandemic vaccines should be the main focus in controlling pandemic influenza.

The recommendation is a response to the U.S. government’s Implementation Plan for the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza, which was released in May.

“The IDSA has felt all along that an effective vaccine should be the central strategy for controlling influenza,” said Kathleen Neuzil, MD, MPH, chair of the IDSA Pandemic Influenza Task Force. “The reason for this is that a vaccine can be far-reaching in terms of all communities and it is the most scientific approach for prevention,” she said in an interview with Infectious Disease News.

Neuzil said IDSA and SHEA applaud the White House for its efforts in the pandemic plan. However, there is concern that although the plan does address vaccines, it lacks a specific, outlined approach for vaccine development and deployment if an outbreak occurs.

If vaccine development and production is done now, then the vaccine can be distributed and utilized more quickly should a pandemic hit, said Martin J. Blaser, MD, president of IDSA.

Pre-pandemic vaccines

Pre-pandemic vaccines are in development, which are designed to work against the H5N1 strain of avian flu currently plaguing Asia. But it is unknown if these pre-pandemic vaccines would work, as no one can detect whether this particular strain would cause an outbreak in the U.S. or if it could be another one, as influenza viruses are constantly mutating.

More than 300 critical actions are listed in the Implementation Plan. The list includes quarantines, social distancing, travel restrictions, school closings and additional non-pharmaceutical approaches.

“The other strategies allow a pandemic to start, with hopes that you can stop it, treat it and mitigate it,” Neuzil said. “But we want to be sure that people don’t forget vaccine and that there is not an overemphasis on community mitigation or containment strategies.”

Call for action

The societies call for a number of complementary strategies. “The focus on vaccine should be the main focus in the long-run,” Neuzil said. “In the short-run, we fully acknowledge that other strategies are necessary when we don’t have a vaccine, but trying to make those strategies scientifically based will help everyone in the long run.”

They encourage regular drills and tests that would help guarantee that plans that look feasible on paper will be successful if a pandemic does occur. Additional funding on the state, local and global levels is also an issue because money that was originally allocated for pandemic preparedness was reduced by government cuts. Other recommendations include: collaboration with vaccine manufacturers, working relationships with other countries around the world that were affected by the avian flu, federal guidance to help reduce confusion during a possible pandemic and more.

The group applauded the amount of money that the government has put into biomedical research and testing of pandemic vaccines. They also acknowledged that the Department of Health and Human Services has been designated to handle health and medical response.

“We want to encourage [the government] to come up with an effective vaccine though it may never get used,” said Neuzil. “In fact, we hope it never does get used.”

For more information:

• Visit the IDSA’s Web site at www.idsociety.org or SHEA’s Web site at www.shea-online.org.