The Learning Blog

On Tue 7 Jul 2009, the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization held an extraordinary meeting in Geneva to discuss issues and make recommendations related to vaccine for the pandemic (H1N1) 2009. SAGE reviewed the current pandemic situation, the current status of seasonal vaccine production and potential A(H1N1) vaccine production capacity, and considered potential options for vaccine use.

The following recommendations were provided to the WHO Director-General:

• All countries should immunize their health-care workers as a first priority to protect the essential health infrastructure. Because of limited availability of vaccines initially, SAGE has recommended prioritizing on who would be vaccinated based on specific conditions: pregnant women; those aged above 6 months with one of several chronic medical conditions; healthy young adults of 15 to 49 years of age; healthy children; healthy adults of 50 to 64 years of age; and healthy adults of 65 years of age and above.
• Because some pandemic vaccines were produced with new technologies, SAGE recommends evaluation of their safety profile through post-marketing surveillance. It is also suggested that countries share these results to the international community so as to make needed adjustments on vaccination policies.
• As most of the production of the seasonal vaccine for the 2009-2010 influenza season in the northern hemisphere is almost complete and is therefore unlikely to affect production of pandemic vaccine, SAGE did not consider that there was a need to recommend a “switch” from seasonal to pandemic vaccine production.

WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan endorsed the above recommendations on 11 Jul 2009, recognizing that they were well adapted to the current pandemic situation. She also noted that the recommendations will need to be changed if and when new evidence becomes available.

SAGE was established by the WHO Director-General in 1999 as the principal advisory group to WHO for vaccines and immunization. It comprises 15 members who serve in their personal capacity and represent a broad range of disciplines from around the world in fields such as epidemiology, public health, vaccinology, paediatrics, internal medicine, infectious diseases, immunology, drug regulation, programme management, immunization delivery, and health-care administration.

Additional participants in the SAGE meeting included members of the ad hoc policy advisory working group on influenza A(H1N1) vaccine, chairs of the regional technical advisory groups and external experts.

Observers included industry representatives and regulators who did not take part in the recommendation process in order to avoid conflicts of interest.

From ProMed Mail

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