Madrid Runs Out of Flu Vaccine Due to Bird Flu Panic

Madrid runs out of flu vaccine due to bird flu panic

MADRID, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) — Madrid pharmacies have run out of flu vaccine due to public fears about bird flu, and pharmacies in the whole country are about to do the same, a leading Spanish expert said on Thursday.

However, many people who have bought the anti-viral drugs are low risk ones and have little to fear, said Jose Enrique Hours, president of the Madrid pharmacists college.

Vaccines are still available in health centers to those most at risk, health workers, people aged over 65 and the chronically ill, said Hours.

Spanish Agricultural Minister Elena Espinosa on Wednesday also dismissed fears bird flu sparking a global epidemic among humans as “science fiction”, saying the virus currently only poses a threat to birds.

Spain meanwhile increased the stockpile of bird flu vaccine from 2 million to 12 million doses, sufficient for up to a quarter of the population in case a human epidemic erupted.

Bird flu, a common ailment afflicting fowl, is difficult for people to contract. But scientists warned the H5N1 strain of the bird flu could mutate into a form easily transmitted between people, triggering a human flu pandemic.

The World Health Organization has reported 117 bird flu patients from Oct. 26, 2003 to Oct. 10, 2005. There were 60 fatalities in four countries, including 41 deaths in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand, four in Cambodia, and three in Indonesia.