Don’t Count Your Vaccine Before It’s Hatched



Don’t Count Your Vaccine Before It’s Hatched

There is no way to know when a pandemic will occur or how severe it will be. We must be informed and prepare now to be ready. Waiting until there is an epidemic actually happening will be too late.

Practice healthy habits to limit the spread of illness: handwashing, covering coughs and sneezes, and staying home when sick. Stock up on emergency supplies so your family can stay home, and have an emergency plan. Visit for more information.

Many people rely on a flu shot every fall. An annual flu shot offers 70% protection against seasonal flu and is especially recommended for those who are at high risk of flu complications.

However, the annual flu shot will not protect against a pandemic flu virus. During a pandemic, there will most likely be no effective vaccine for the first six months of the outbreak. Even if available, quantities will be limited, and there will be rules for who will be eligible to get it first.

Scientists are now working on a vaccine against the H5N1 avian influenza virus, but any vaccine created today may not be effective later, as the virus constantly changes. Simply put, an effective vaccine against a pandemic flu virus cannot be developed until there is a pandemic flu virus. By then, millions would already be sick.

Once the vaccine is developed, it would take months to manufacture. Using current technology, seasonal flu vaccine production takes up to ten months and changes every year because the virus strains change every year. There are many flu viruses, and they all mutate. Therefore, unused flu vaccine is discarded at the end of the season, and a new vaccine must be developed every year.

Seasonal flu vaccine is grown in chicken eggs. In the United States alone, the process uses up to 100 million eggs, because it takes one to two eggs to make a single dose. During a pandemic, it would be difficult to get enough eggs to make enough vaccine for everyone who would need it.

Scientists are now working on quicker methods to make flu vaccine, like growing the vaccine in cell cultures instead of eggs. Even with faster production, it will still take a long time, and there will not be enough vaccine for everyone who wants it once a pandemic begins. Therefore, distribution of vaccine during a pandemic will be controlled, probably going to healthcare workers and other important infrastructure workers first.

Rhiannon Brewer is the public relations and information specialist for the Northeast Health District and can be reached at rcbrewer@dhr.state.ga.us.

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