Japan to Increase Vaccine Stockpile for Avian Flu
Tokyo, Nov. 14 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese health ministry said Monday it has drawn up an action plan to deal with possible outbreaks of a human-to-human strain of avian influenza in Japan and urged the government to increase its stockpile of flu vaccines.
The plan, which assumes that it would be difficult to prevent new bird flu viruses from coming into Japan, calls on the government to focus its efforts on preventing the spread of the flu after its entry into the country.
The deadly H5N1 type of bird flu has damaged poultry and caused 64 human deaths in Southeast Asian countries over the last two years. Outbreaks of the disease have also been reported in Europe.
It is feared that the H5N1 strain could mutate into a more dangerous form that people can pass to each other, causing a pandemic.
The plan calls on the government to stockpile sufficient supplies of Tamiflu, an antiviral drug believed to be effective against bird flu, to treat up to 25 million people for five days, instead of for three days as previously planned.
Under the plan, the national government would be responsible for stockpiling Tamiflu, made by Swiss drug maker Roche Holding Ltd., for 10.5 million people, local governments for 10.5 million people, and the private sector for four million people.
The stockpiling should be completed within the next fiscal year, which ends in March 2007.
Once an outbreak is discovered, the health minister would make this known to the public and request that people in affected areas not participate in large meetings. Infected people would be asked not to go to work.
A request would also be made that Tamiflu not be used for ordinary flu patients, in order to make a sufficient amount of the drug available to bird flu victims.
Medical personnel, police and firefighters involved in dealing with the outbreak would be vaccinated with Tamiflu.
The vaccination of these people could be made with new drugs that have not yet approved for use in the general public, the plan said.END