Mexico among countries negotiating to buy France’s vaccine overstock

Translated by Brian Schwarz

Originally published January 3, 2009 by RFI: Radio France Internationale Español (rfi.fr/actues/pages/001/accueil.asp) under the heading París vende vacunas by Auxilio Alcantar

PARIS, FRANCE - The World Health Organization feared that the [influenza A, or H1N1] epidemic would spread rapidly in Europe and France wanted to be prepared for it. So without thinking twice about it, French health minister Roselyne Bachelot wrote a check for $869 million Euros to buy 94 million doses of the vaccine.

The idea was that each person would receive a double injection of the product that was made by four laboratories: the French Sanofi-Pasteur, Swiss Norvatis, the British Glaxo Smith Kline and the U.S.-based Baxter. Nevertheless, November 20 it was realized that just one dose per patient provided sufficient protection.

The vaccination campaign started up October 21, and since then just five million people have been vaccinated. At first, it was because of strong reservations concerning the (possible) side effects of the vaccine and now because the epidemic’s peak already has passed.

The vaccine cannot be stored for long because of limits on the medicine’s expiration date and because the virus’ strains mutate. As such, France has begun to sell off its store of the vaccine in the foreign market.

Qatar already bought 300,000 doses, Egypt could be getting two million, and negotiations are underway with authorities in Mexico and the Ukraine. Apparently the vaccines will be sold at the price at which they were bought, which is 7 Euros per unit.

In September France gave nine million doses to the WHO, in a joint effort with the United States, Australia and Brazil to grant 10 percent of the respective stock to provide populations in poorer nations with access to the vaccine.

Until now the H1N1 virus has caused 200 deaths in France, 12,000 in the world, and 10,000 in the United States, the country most impacted.