We’re Not Ready for a Flu Pandemic
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, the other federal agency responsible for developing
and making available new vaccines for emergency response, has in fiscal year 2017 only a single project for $43 million supporting game-changing influenza vaccines.
While H7N9 still is rarely transmitted human to human, it may be just one spin of the genetic
roulette wheel away from mutations that could make it the next human pandemic strain.
Its national security strategy published last month cites Ebola
and SARS as potential bioterrorism and pandemic threats, yet makes no mention of the risk of pandemic influenza nor any aspect of critical vaccine research and development
To make matters worse, in Australia, which experienced its flu season four to six months ago, the current
vaccine appeared to be only about 10 percent effective against this year’s dominant strain.
Limited global manufacturing capacity combined with the five to six months it takes to
make these vaccines mean many people would never even have a chance to be vaccinated.
The 1918-19 Spanish flu epidemic (which despite the name may have originated
in the American Midwest) killed 50 million to 100 million around the globe.
