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A(H1N1) vaccine still months away

Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Margaret Chan said on Wednesday that the vaccine against A(H1N1) was still months away.

Ms Chan’s remarks cast doubt on the British government’s claim that first stocks of A(H1N1) vaccine will arrive in Britain in August.

Ms Chan told the Guardian that having a vaccine available was not the same as having a vaccine that had been proven safe. Britain is to build a nationwide immunity to the disease, the biggest vaccination program of the past 50 years as the number of confirmed cases in Britain is moving closer toward 10,000.

The first doses of A(H1N1) vaccine were set to arrive in Britain next month, the British health authorities said on Sunday. “Clinical trial data will not be available for another two to three months,” she said.

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