20,000 public health workers vaccinated against H1N1 swine flu in Tamil Nadu

Doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other para-medical staff in the public hospitals of India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu have been administered with preventive vaccine against H1N1 swine flu infection, reports said.

Inoculation of public health workers against H1N1 influenza A swine flu vaccine as part of the Union Health Ministry’s latest policy to vaccinate the health workers who are managing H1N1 cases.

Since they are more involved in medicare care, health workers come first in the list of all contagious disease prevention programmes initiated by the governments.

Generally, health workers including doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other para-medical staff  hey are considered the high-risk group with higher chances of getting and transmitting the infection.

The state of Tamil Nadu has received 20,000 doses of H1N1 influenza A swine flu vaccine, supplied by Sanofi Pasteur under the brand name Penenza.

Penenza H1N1 influenza A swine flu vaccine was produced in France and are provided to the central health ministry by the World Health Organization.

Tamil Nadu government will supply Penenza H1N1 influenza A swine flu vaccine to the private hospitals as well for administering the hospital and other paramdical staff working there, reports said.

The vaccination programme will soon be extended to other rsk groups such as students and staff of medical education department, workers in Community Health centres, emergency service providers, field staff and Anganwadi workers.

According to reports, no side effect from Penenza has been reported from anywhere in the state. Each person was given a single dose of Penenza vaccine.

Tamil Nadu has been chosen among the first list of regions to be targeted with H1N1 swine flu prevention drive in India because of sporadic incidents of the infection have been reported in the state even moths after the swine flu has started receding.

Recently, a pregnant woman was tested positive for H1N1 virus in Coimbatore. It was in Coimbatore that the first case of Swine Flu detected in Tamil Nadu a year ago.

More than 500 people have been reportedly tested positive for swine flu in Coimbatore alone till two months ago. The latest detection of the virus makes it sure that even today Swine Flu virus is active in the state.

Karnataka, another southern state has already completed the H1N1 swine flu vaccination frogramme for health workers.

Among the south Indian states Kerala, which received 27000 doses of Penenza vaccine, is yet to complete the H1N1 swine flu prevention programme for the public health workers.

Recent updates indicate that in India out of the 1,39,466 people tested for flu like symptoms, 23% of them tested positive for swine flu. India has also recorded a 5% fatality rate which is higher than the global rate. Though summer provides respite from seasonal flu, there have been incidences of H1N1 with cases being reported from Pune, Coimbatore and Chennai,

As of 24th May 2010, 1527 deaths have been reported in India, according to a Press Information Buraeu release from the ministry of health and family welfare.

Till date, samples from 140055 persons have been tested for Influenza A H1N1 in Government Laboratories   and a few private Laboratories across the country and 31904 (22.77%) of them have been found positive.

India has already started H1N1 vaccination drive against swine flu in the coming weeks as the bridge clinical trials to ascertain safety of the imported vaccine samples from Sanofi Pasteur is completed and the data submitted for regulatory review.

Indian Government has imported 1.5 million doses of vaccines from Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi Aventis Group