THOUGH Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Winston De La Haye admits that obtaining the flu vaccine necessary to vaccinate front-line health care workers has been a challenge, he said the Ministry of Health is working assiduously to source additional flu vaccine.

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer in a telephone interview on Friday, Dr De La Haye said the Ministry of Health is expecting some 3,000 flu vaccine from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), 1,000 from Trinidad, and if talks with Belize bear fruit, the island should receive an additional 1,000 from that country.

With the country confirming 10 cases of the H1N1 influenza virus up to Friday afternoon, he told Your Health Your Wealth that so far, about 75 per cent of front-line health care workers have received the flu vaccine.

They were vaccinated from the 3,000 flu vaccines the ministry had that were ordered for this year.

Dr De La Haye explained that the provision of the flu vaccine, in terms of what is ordered each year, is based on the uptake for the previous year.

“We have had a challenge with uptake. In fact, last year we had to discard a large amount (of flu vaccine) because it has a short shelf life,” Dr De La Haye disclosed.

He shared that the vaccine are made based on the previous year’s pathogens or the previous year’s virus, and they run a year before new vaccine are made towards the end of the flu season.

“So they would start new batches come April/May there about. So we are really on the tail end and that makes it difficult to procure,” Dr De La Haye said, explaining further that limited supplies are available at this time because organisations are now focused on making new vaccine for next year.

However, he pointed out that the Ministry of Health recognised a possible increased need as early as February 15, 2016, which is when it scaled up its preparations for the H1N1 virus — also known as swine flu — because at that time there were five cases on the island.

“We made an order through PAHO for 3,000 more vaccine and that was processed on the 19th of February,” Dr De La Haye said, adding that the vaccine should be in the island 21 days after being processed, which would be about the middle of March.

“In addition to that, we have reached out to Trinidad to procure 1,000 (flu vaccine) because it appears we will get that prior to the middle of March… and we are exploring a further 1,000 (flu vaccine) from Belize, which, should we be successful, would also be before the middle of March,” Dr De La Haye shared.

He said as soon as the additional flu vaccine are obtained, the ministry will be able to cover the remaining front-line health care workers

.

“Because those are the highest risk, as you know, health care workers are included in the 10 positive that we have had thus far,” Dr De La Haye said.

He insisted that the health ministry is doing everything it can to ensure that health care workers are protected.

“And, there is no limit and no ban on drug houses importing. However, they, too, import based on uptake on years before, so it really hasn’t been a large number of these pharmaceutical companies importing,” he added. “But we imagine that now they, too, will be able to bring more in anticipation of its use based on our educational programmes next year.”

He admitted to Your Health Your Wealth that there has been some anxiety among health care workers, especially since the first swine flu-related death was a colleague, but said that the ministry has been working with the Jamaica Medical Doctors’ Association and the Medical Association of Jamaica to keep them informed every step of the way.

Dr Suzanna Roye, who worked with the Southern Regional Health Authority and was being treated for H1N1 virus at the University Hospital of the West Indies, was the first patient to have died. Since then, they have been two more related deaths.

Dr De La Hayes insisted that it did not take the death of a patient for the health ministry to order additional flu vaccine, as the decision was made on February 15 and the first person died on February 20.

“So we have been proactive in recognising the need to scale up our preparations; however, there is a challenge in procuring the vaccine,” he said.

He reiterated that the Ministry of Health will be getting the 3,000 flu vaccine from PAHO and hopefully, the additional 1,000 from Trinidad and Belize, “and we will be able to complete our front-line workers for the middle of March, which would leave a little more for others”.