Additional countries to join in donating H1N1 vaccines to developing countries, U.N official says

Additional countries are expected to soon announce they will follow in the footsteps of nine developed countries who recently said they would donate H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine supplies to poorer nations, David Nabarro, of the U.N. said Friday, Reuters reports.

"It is most likely that there will be other countries donating 10 percent of their H1N1 vaccine stocks," Nabarro said. Nabarro declined to name who the new donors would be, according to Reuters. A report released last week concluded "85 developing countries would have to rely entirely on donations for vaccine supplies," the news service writes (Evans, 9/25).

VOA News reports the WHO also continues to solicit vaccine donations and reduced prices on H1N1 vaccines from pharmaceutical companies (Schlein, 9/25). In related news, Daily Nation/allAfrica.com reports Kenya will soon receive four million doses of H1N1 vaccine from the WHO (9/25). H1N1-Related Deaths Near 4,000

Also on Friday, the WHO reported that over 3,900 people have died from H1N1 - "a jump of 431 deaths compared to a week ago," according to Agence France-Presse/the Australian. "The Americas region continued to post the highest number of fatal cases, at 2948," the news service writes (9/25).

H1N1 Moves Through South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mexico

In South Africa, the number of H1N1-related deaths climbed to 59, according to a spokesperson from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, BuaNews reports (9/25). ZimOnline examines the rising number of H1N1 cases in Zimbabwe, "where health facilities have collapsed after a decade of economic recession" (Nyamhangambiri, 9/26).

The Associated Press/Detroit Free Press reports on the "next wave" of H1N1 in Mexico. Despite "[d]aily diagnoses reach[ing] higher levels in September than the H1N1 peak in April, with 483 new cases in just one day this month alone," the news service writes, "It's unlikely there will be large-scale closings of schools and stadiums … because health officials know the virus is benign if treated early" (9/27).

No Major Changes In H1N1 Virus, U.S. Health Officials Say

HealthDay News/Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that U.S. health officials on Friday reported there were no major changes in the genetic composition of the H1N1 virus, "making the forthcoming vaccine a 'good match' for the virus" and signifying the virus has not mutated into a deadlier form (9/25).

News Outlets Explore U.S. Efforts To Track Adverse Effects Of H1N1 Vaccine

AP examines the U.S. system to track H1N1 vaccine-related side effects. The article includes information about several government-funded projects that will help stay on top of the outcomes of people who take the H1N1 vaccine (Neergaard, 9/27). The New York Times also features a piece on how the government is preparing to separate commonly occurring medical events from events that can be linked back to being a side effect of the H1N1 vaccine. The CDC "has compiled data on how many problems like heart attacks, strokes, miscarriages, seizures and sudden infant deaths normally occur" and "has broken those figures down for various high-priority vaccine groups, like pregnant women or children with asthma," the newspaper writes, adding, "When vaccinations begin, it plans to gather reports from vaccine providers, hospitals and doctors, looking for signs of adverse events, so it can detect problems before rumors grow" (McNeil, 9/27).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.