UK orders 5 million bird flu jabs for pandemic preparedness

The UK government has taken steps to prepare for a possible bird flu outbreak by placing an order with Australia's CSL Seqirus for millions of vaccine doses.

The contract covers more than 5 million doses of a CSL Seqirus H5 influenza shot, according to a government statement, which said the vaccines would be manufactured by the company's UK subsidiary.

While there is no evidence yet that the current epidemic of H5N1 flu in birds could be spread between humans, there are concerns that an ongoing outbreak in cattle in the US could point to an increased risk of the virus evolving to become a threat.

There have been cases of H5 flu in humans this year, but most have been attributed to exposure to infected animals or consumption of poorly cooked meat. In September, however, a case was reported in the US that did not seem to have been caused by exposure to sick or infected animals.

"It is important for us to be prepared against a range of different influenza viruses that may pose human health risks," said Dr Meera Chand, emerging infection lead at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

"Early access to vaccines saves lives," she added. "Adding H5 vaccines to the interventions already available to us will help us to be ready for a wider range of threats."

The CSL Seqirus contract aims to provide an immediate stock of vaccines that could be used to protect groups like health professionals and food industry workers in the event of a pandemic, while a vaccine tailored to the pandemic strain of the flu virus is prepared.

Dr Ed Hutchinson, senior lecturer at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (MRC CVR), said: "We know from recent data in the US that H5 vaccines continue to provide protection even as the virus evolves, so this would be a valuable thing to acquire in advance."

H5N1 is a particularly concerning pathogen as the mortality rate in the hundreds of cases where humans have been infected through contact with animals in the last 20 years is around 50%, according to the WHO.

It has claimed the lives of around 280 million birds since October 2021, precipitating the biggest decline in wild bird populations in decades, as well as thousands of deaths among mammals like seals and sea lions that live in close proximity to sea birds.

"Emergence of a new strain of influenza remains at the top of the list of pandemic threats and so providing resilience against potential risky flu types, like H5, is important for future pandemic and outbreak preparedness," commented Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group at the University of Oxford.

"H5 is only one of the multiple families of flu viruses that create such a risk, so we should not be complacent. But H5 is the one that we are most concerned about today."

In June, CSL Seqirus received an order for 665,000 pre-pandemic bird flu vaccines from the European Commission that will be used across 15 EU member states. The four-year contract included an option for the purchase of up to an additional 40 million doses.

Image by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay