Jun 24, 2010 (CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) has shipped about 38 million doses of donated pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine to 56 developing countries so far, with another 39 million doses expected to be shipped by the end of July, the agency said in a recent update.
Last year the WHO declared a goal of providing enough H1N1 vaccine to cover about 10% of the populations of 95 developing countries, or roughly 200 million people. The agency has collected pledges for 200 million doses, and donors so far have signed agreements worth 118.6 million doses, according to the WHO update posted Jun 18.
Vaccine deliveries through Jun 18 totaled 37.87 million doses, which were spread among 56 countries, the report says. The amounts range from 1,000 doses for the island of Tuvalu to 3.5 million doses for South Africa.
The WHO said another 23 countries are scheduled to receive vaccine shipments totaling 39.1 million doses by the end of July. Bangladesh is due for the largest share, 12.6 million doses.
In addition to vaccine, donors have pledged to supply 70 million syringes and 500,000 safety boxes. The WHO said another 54.5 million syringes and 930,000 safety boxes are still needed to match the committed amount of vaccine.
Donors also have pledged $48 million (US) to cover operating costs, which is expected to be enough to deploy all the pledged vaccine doses, the report says. That sum is well below earlier estimates of the cost, such as a $233 million figure mentioned in December.
To receive vaccine donations, countries must accept certain terms and conditions and develop a national vaccine deployment plan. The WHO said 99 countries have requested vaccine, 86 have signed agreements, 73 have completed deployment plans, and 6 are refining their deployment plans.
The WHO report did not list the vaccine donors. In December the agency said six vaccine manufacturers and 12 countries had pledged a total of about 180 million doses.
See also:
Jun 18 WHO update on H1N1 vaccine distribution
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/action/h1n1_vaccine_deployment_update20100618.pdf
Dec 17, 2009, CIDRAP News story "Three Asian countries top list to get donated H1N1 vaccine"
