The World Health Organization, under the leadership of epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove, head of Preparedness and Prevention against Epidemics and Pandemics, continues to carefully monitor the evolving situation regarding H5N1 avian influenza. Despite the growing interest in this virus, “WHO currently does not consider it necessary to activate the production system of a pandemic vaccine for humans”. However, the organization stands ready to act quickly should the situation change.
WHO’s response capacity
Van Kerkhove highlighted how the WHO is well organised, particularly after the experience gained with Covid. «If the situation were to evolve into a Pheic», that is, into a public health emergency of international importance, «or into a pandemic» as was the case for Covid-19, «but once again – specifies the expert – we are not at At that point, with current vaccine technologies we estimate that 4-8 billion doses of pandemic influenza vaccines could be produced in a year (depending on how much antigen is needed in each vaccine).” The manufacturing process would be faster than that for Covid and vaccines would be available within 4-6 months.
The pandemic preparedness system (PIP Framework)
Established in 2011, the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework is a mechanism through which WHO has established arrangements for the rapid development and distribution of vaccines in the event of a pandemic emergency. Currently, despite continuous monitoring, activation of this system is not necessary. Currently, there are two candidate vaccine viruses related to the H5 2.3.4.4b clade viruses ready for vaccine development and possibly manufacturing. These are part of a large surveillance network, the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS), which includes 152 WHO national centers in 130 Member States, as well as WHO collaborating centers and reference laboratories specializing in H5 viruses.
Worries
Will bird flu be the next pandemic? «It is highly possible, if many dairy farm workers contract H5N1», the avian virus circulating among cows in several US states, «we risk a pandemic». Jennifer B. Nuzzo, Lauren Sauer and Nahid Bhadelia, three American academics, spell it out clearly in an article published in the Washington Post. The measures “rightly adopted” by the Department of Agriculture to prevent avian influenza from spreading among cattle herds in other states of the country, warn the three experts, “will do little against the main threat that H5N1 represents for man: the infection of workers” of the affected companies. «Our inability to protect them», they warn, not only «puts their health at risk», but «gives the virus the opportunity to evolve into a pathogen that would pose a greater risk to people, including those who live far from farms ».
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