Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland confirmed 2,423 new cases of swine flu in the week ending 21 November, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) announced Friday 27 November, bringing the total to 6,691 since the outbreak began. The pandemic has already claimed four deaths in Switzerland, all from high risk patients. FOPH estimates that almost 27,000 people have consulted their doctors about the flu country-wide.
Flu virus © 2009 Novartis AG
Update 19.09 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland joins other major industrialized nations in reserving 10 percent of the vaccines for donation to poorer countries, under the auspices of the World Health Organization, an initiative proposed by US President Barack Obama, the Swiss government announced.
The Swiss government has bought 13 million doses of swine flu vaccine from Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to cover the 7.7 million population in the country. Deliveries will start at the end of September. The cantons will organize vaccinations, while the costs will be shared among the central government, the cantons and the health insurance industry, the government announced 18 September.
Health workers and those who work with infants under six months of age, as well as people at risk will be vaccinated before the general population, the government says. The cost to individuals will be slightly less than CHF20 per vaccine. The charge covers materials and the actual vaccination, but not the vaccine dose.
Latest tests by GSK in Canada indicate that a single dose of the vaccine provides immunity against the flu. Most countries have budgeted a double-dose vaccination campaign against swine flu.
Related: Swiss government site on prevention, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Two Australian drugs manufacturers have begun clinical trials of a vaccine for humans against A/H1N1 swine flu. Almost 600 people are taking part in the tests, although the results will not be known for almost six weeks. In the US, the University of Maryland’s Centre for Vaccine Development CVD announced it was to begin clinical trials in early August with 1000 volunteers. The hope is to be able to deploy an effective vaccine by the begin of the flu season in the Northern hemisphere’s winter. New cell-based technology potentially boosts the vaccine production capacity of pharmaceutical companies to millions a week. But most vaccine-producing drugs firms are still producing vaccine for the seasonal variety of flu, and are not yet geared up for mass-scale production of an A/H1N1 vaccine. Human clinical trials are an important step in the approvals process. BBC, CNN, GenevaLunch
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Pharmaceutical giant Novartis saw net sales grow 8 percent in local currencies, but slip 2 percent in US dollars in the first six months of 2009. Exchange rates had significant impact on profits, which fell by 12 percent to CHF4.32 billion, compared to the same period in 2008. Company CEO Daniel Vasella notes in the company’s press release on results that the company expects to “continue record underlying results in constant currencies.”
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Health ministers from the 194 member countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) have arrived in Geneva for the World Health Assembly which opens 18 May in Geneva with an agenda overshadowed by the A/H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic.
Swiss army soldiers take a break, canton Bern
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - New arrivals at the spring session of the Swiss military recruits’ schools Monday 9 March will be offered free MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccinations, part of the government’s efforts to fight the rise in measles cases in Switzerland. The shots will be voluntary.
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