Vaccination against influenza: role and limitations in pandemic intervention plans

Abstract

Influenza pandemics occur periodically and the subtype of the next pandemic strain cannot be predicted. Vaccination remains a critical intervention during pandemics, but current production technology requires several months to develop sufficient vaccine to meet anticipated worldwide need. Candidate prepandemic vaccines for use in population priming or rapid deployment during an epidemic are in development but are subtype specific and logistical obstacles to timely distribution exist. Intensive research is underway to identify a universal vaccine, providing protection against all known influenza strains based on shared epitopes. Vaccine access is expected to be limited during early response to a pandemic, necessitating ethical vaccine distribution plans for within-country and global allocation. Mass vaccination plans must be in place prior to an event to ensure appropriate infrastructures are in place. Carefully crafted education campaigns regarding pandemic vaccine safety and efficacy should aid in maximizing pandemic vaccine uptake during a future event.

Keywords::

• compliance
• herd protection
• H1N1
• H5N1
• pandemic
• public health
• surge capacity
• vaccine

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.