Vaccine shortage not affecting Europe supply

Vaccine shortage not affecting Europe supply
By Geoff Ziezulewicz, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Despite both an infant vaccine shortage and new reported cases of Hib bacteria infection stateside, military medical officials in Europe said this week that they continue to have adequate supplies of the vaccine to immunize the community’s babies against potentially fatal illness.

No infections from Hib, or Haemophilus influenza type B, have been reported in European military medical communities since a 2007 recall left vaccine stocks in short supply, according to medical authorities.

Full vaccine production by the drug company Merck is not expected to resume until this summer, leaving just one other company to produce the Hib medicine.

Before the recall, Hib infection — which can cause meningitis, pneumonia and death — had been drastically reduced since the vaccine’s introduction about 20 years ago.

The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising providers to withhold an Hib booster shot at the one-year mark to ensure that all babies get Hib inoculations at the 2-, 4- and 6-month stages after the December 2007 recall.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60298