Swine Flu Vaccine in Ireland – Who Will Get It?

This week the Irish Government announced swine flu jabs for all.   Well, almost all.  The Government have asked state departments and private businesses around the country to compile lists of “essential personnel”, who will be prioritised in a mass vaccination programme.  Topping the list will be emergency workers, gardai (police) and any government “key workers” considered essential to the smooth running of the country.  Needless to say the Taoiseach Brian Cowen and his Cabinet Ministers will be among the first on the exclusive list.  (Some may note that the words “Brian Cowen” and “essential to the smooth running of the country” have never before been uttered in the same breath.)  It seems the rest of us “non-essential” members of the public will have to wait for our jabs.

Although the vaccine will not be available until September,  Brian Cowen’s Government has already signed an “advance purchasing agreement”  to the tune of €88 million with the pharmaceutical companies Baxter and GlaxoSmithKline.  (This is from the same government who, at the start of the financial crisis, cancelled the cervical cancer vaccinations which could have prevented the deaths of 80 women a year and cost a relatively frugal €9 million).   No one has died and there have been only 63 confirmed cases of the swine flu (H1N1 virus) so far in Ireland.  But it seems the country is preparing for a pandemic.

There has been little media interest in swine flu over the last few weeks, yet World Health Organisation figures show that it has continued to spread since it first emerged in April.  Our neighbours in the UK are seeing several hundred new cases confirmed every day.  Last week, UK Health Secretary Andy Burnham warned that it would be feasible to see the number of new victims reach 100,000 a day by the end of August.  Due to the number of people who have the virus, the UK Government’s focus has now shifted from trying to contain the spread of the virus, to treatment of those already affected.  This is worrying for Ireland.  Without the border controls for spotting people with H1N1, the Irish authorities fear more infected people will reach Ireland via the UK.

Skeptics of the vaccination programme warn that the jab will only strengthen the swine flu virus, causing it to mutate to a more virulent and deadly strain.  But with the very old and very young most at risk, what family would leave their children unprotected now in order to stave off the mutation of the virus at a later date?  H1N1 is already  showing some resistance to Tamiflu, the antiviral drug currently being used to treat swine flu.  The first case of resistance to Tamiflu was found in Denmark in June.  Since then, Japan and Hong Kong have also reported Tamiflu resistant strains.

The main risk with the H1N1 virus is not the flu itself but other complications arising from it.  Most of those who have died already had underlying medical conditions.  With around 300 deaths worldwide, there have been less deaths so far than any other flu outbreak.  The annual number of ‘normal’ flu-related deaths in the US is estimated at about 30,000, while in the UK it is 12,000.  Most of these are among the elderly.

Swine flu barely registers on the grand scale of health epidemics.  At present there are over 78,000 confirmed cases worldwide.   In 2007 there were an estimated 3 million deaths from AIDS, and between 1 and 5 million from malaria (mostly children under 5 in sub saharan africa).  As Comic Carlos Mencia wrote on his Twitter page  “hundreds of people in Mexico with swine flu, millions wearing masks.  Millions with AIDS, no one wears condoms.  Huh?”

Conspiracy theories already abound.  This particular strain of H1N1 was created in a lab, they say.  From the pharmaceutical company Baxter and it’s shareholders, to TV networks low on revenue, Al Queda and even surgical mask producers and Mexican drug barons, it would appear everyone’s lining up for a cut of the profit.  Multi-million dollar vaccine deals with pharmaceutical giants such as Baxter will certainly give the conspiracy theorists plenty to think about.

Meanwhile, at the back of the vaccine queue here in Ireland, we’ll just wait our turn.