Canada buying H1N1 vaccine without adjuvant, hoping people don’t wait for it

TORONTO — Canada is buying 1.8 million doses of H1N1 vaccine it hopes people won’t want and won’t wait for.

Source: Helen Branswell, Medical Reporter, Canada Press

The Public Health Agency of Canada urged pregnant women who are 20 weeks or more into their pregnancy and parents of children under three on Wednesday to take or to give their kids a swine flu shot containing an adjuvant, an additive that boosts the body’s response to the vaccine.

The agency has purchased 1.8 million doses of vaccine made without an adjuvant, but it won’t be licensed until some time in early November. The main vaccination effort, involving vaccine containing an adjuvant, should start next week in many provinces and territories.

When Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced Friday that Health Canada had approved the adjuvanted H1N1 vaccine the country is purchasing, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. David Butler-Jones urged people not to wait for the unadjuvanted alternative.

"For under three (year olds) there will be some unadjuvanted (vaccine) as an option. But I wouldn’t wait for my grandchildren.," Butler-Jones said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

He said the pandemic vaccine task group, an expert committee advising the Public Health Agency on vaccine issues, unanimously recommended that young kids be vaccinated with the adjuvanted vaccine. Adjuvanted vaccine seems to work better than plain vaccine in little kids, who have a developing immune system.

"The expert recommendation is that adjuvanted vaccine is the recommended formulation for this age group," said Dr. Carolyn Pim, senior medical officer with the public health agency.

"However, if for a particular reason an individual does not want to have the adjuvanted vaccine for the children, it is considered an acceptable alternative – although the expert opinion at this point in time is that the immune response to an unadjuvanted vaccine may be poorer than to an adjuvanted vaccine."

Canada originally intended only to purchase adjuvanted vaccine, but relented and placed an order for some vaccine without the additive. The move reflects the concern that pregnant women and parents of young children might forgo H1N1 vaccine entirely rather than use a product containing a new and unfamiliar compound.

Tens of millions of doses of adjuvanted flu vaccine have been used in Europe. But the experience is mainly in seniors and adults. There are no data on the safety of the products during pregnancy, and little data on their use in children. Given the lack of evidence, the World Health Organization has recommended countries with the option should provide unadjuvanted vaccine to pregnant women.

Canada put in the order for the unadjuvanted vaccine after placing its main vaccine order. And the approval process trails the green-lighting of the pandemic vaccine with adjuvant