Canada will get vaccine by October: health chief

From the Globe and Mail:
Canada will have a pandemic vaccine by early next month, and could speed up delivery to Canadians if the swine-flu virus turns more severe in the fall, the country's chief public-health officer says.

David Butler-Jones's comments run contrary to the federal government's insistence that Canadians should not expect to be immunized until mid-November, and follow a rash of criticism that Canada is lagging behind other countries in vaccine delivery.

The Canadian Medical Association Journal took a swipe at Ottawa this week, accusing it of delaying the rollout of the H1N1 vaccine. The governments of Australia, the United States and several European countries are planning to immunize their citizens with a vaccine starting in October.

But Health Canada's decision to fortify vaccine with adjuvants – chemical boosters that can increase production – will mire the vaccine in a time-consuming regulatory process, the CMAJ said in an editorial. ...more