Indigenous swine flu vaccine trial enters next phase

Even as state health officials will distribute imported swine flu vaccine for doctors and paramedics on Saturday,the Serum Institute of India Limited has now embarked upon Phase II and III of the indigenous injectable vaccine against the virus.

Even as state health officials will distribute imported swine flu vaccine for doctors and paramedics on Saturday,the Serum Institute of India Limited has now embarked upon Phase II and III of the indigenous injectable vaccine against the virus.

Dr Prasad Kulkarni,director of the Clinical Trials,said the Drug Controller General of India had given the approval for the clinical trial for an injectable vaccine. The trial for the vaccine began on Thursday. Like the nasal spray vaccine trial,here too 330 people will be involved at medical colleges and hospitals at Pune,Ahmedabad,Indore and Bangalore. We need to wait for 21 days after the nasal spray has been administered to each person in the clinical trial.

The results will be available in the third week of April, Kulkarni said.

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The state health officials will hold a meeting on Saturday to discuss the demand for the dose from each district. This vaccine is meant for doctors and paramedical workers who have been treating swine flu patients.

While the vaccine will not be administered immediately,vials will be distributed to all 33 districts. Dr V M Kulkarni,in charge of the vaccination programme,said assistant medical officers of district rural hospitals will place their demand at the meeting following which the vials will be given.

Pune has registered a demand for 3,893 doses to be administered to the medical and para medical staff at the isolation wards of some 20-odd hospitals in the city.

So far there is no demand from Mumbai and Gondia,whereas areas from Sindhudurg have had a higher demand,said Kulkarni. It is not compulsory but a precautionary measure that has been advised by the government for the medical community, said Kulkarni. Swine flu has claimed 208 lives and the progressive number of people getting infected with the virus in Pune is 3,195 people.

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