By Joel Lord
“O brave new world that has such people in it. Let’s start at once.” Aldous Huxley
Market demands are determined primarily by National Health Directives; which in terms of vaccine protocols operate in co-ordination with recommendations issued by the World Health Organization (WHO). The prevailing view from the WHO to its 194 signatory countries currently emphasizes the inevitability of a recurring Pandemic, that the H1N1 strain “has been a dominant virus, and it is expected that it will continue to be a very significant virus circulating around the world. At this point, we have to say that the pandemic is not over.”
The US Dep’t of Health & Human Services recently committed $487 million, part of a joint venture totalling nearly $1 billion US in investment, to produce ‘50 million doses of cell-based seasonal trivalent flu vaccine, and up to 150 million doses of monovalent vaccine (Novatis Vaccines)‘ in preparation for a potential Pandemic. In tandem, the Canadian Federal Gov’t has announced a new 10-year pandemic flu vaccine contract with GlaxoSmithKline, valued at more than $425-million (in addition to a 3 year $33-million contract to Sanofi Pasteur Ltd & a $50-million contact to Novartis Vaccines: a total investment of over $500 million). The contract is intended to ensure a secure supply of vaccine for Canadians in the event of “a future influenza pandemic”. Other nations are following suit.
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