Spain will not participate in joint EU procurement of avian flu vaccines

Faced with a possible human avian influenza pandemic, European Health Emergency Response Authority (HERA) signed on Tuesday a joint procurement that involves 15 member states but does not include Spain. up to 665,000 doses against zoonotic influenza.

The goal is distribute it to populations most at risk of possible H5N1 virus infection, such as poultry farm workers and veterinarians.The European Commission reports this. At the moment, the vaccine is the only preventative against avian influenza authorized by the EU.

The Ministry of Health has so far ruled out the possibility of joining the EU centralized procurement mechanismalthough he left open the possibility of doing so if it proved necessary.

The Center for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies (Ccaes) published this Wednesday a new report assessing the risk in our country, concluding that it remains “very low”.. This comes after the United States was notified of three confirmed cases of infection from dairy cows in April and May, marking the first cases of transmission of the A(H5N1) virus to humans from a mammal.

In recent years, and especially in recent months, an increase in outbreaks has been recorded in different geographical locations. caused by the influenza A virus of the H5N1 subtype, which affects not only birds, but also mammals.

In this sense today The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed a case of avian influenza (H9N2) in a four-year-old child in eastern India. The announcement came a week after the world body reported another case of the disease in an Australian girl who had traveled to India, Efe reported.

A WHO statement published yesterday by Indian media said it was notified on May 22 “of a case of human infection with avian influenza A (H9N2) virus detected in a resident of the country.” state of West Bengal.

A boy who has already recovered and been discharged from the hospitalbegan feeling unwell in late January and was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) at a local hospital in February “due to persistent severe respiratory distress, recurrent high fever, and abdominal cramps.”

Although he was initially diagnosed with bronchiolitis and discharged, he was readmitted to the intensive care unit of another hospital on March 3 and tested positive for influenza A (H9N2). Only on May 1 the patient was discharged.

European health authorities understand that there is a risk of transmission of this pathology to humans.and it can move from specific episodes to a phenomenon with global consequences, such as a pandemic.

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) currently considers that the risk of becoming infected with avian influenza virus is low for the general population and moderate for those who work with or come into contact with infected birds. However, some variants may develop mutations that increase their ability to infect other species, including humans.

Cases in humans can range from asymptomatic to very mild symptoms. (conjunctivitis, mild respiratory diseases), even seriously (pneumonia requiring hospitalization) and in some cases death.

To date, there is no confirmed human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 virus in the EU or European Economic Area, and no active cases of avian influenza in humans.

The Commission has already awarded joint procurement contracts to Seqirus (2019) and GSK (2022) for the pandemic influenza vaccines Foclivia and Adjupanrix, respectively.