Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Australia braces for mass vaccination

Excerpt:

July 14 2009

Sydney - Australia on Tuesday scrambled to immunise its entire population against swine flu if necessary as Asia-Pacific's worst-hit nation responded to what one health official called an "unstoppable" pandemic.

The warning from the official with the UN's World Health Organisation (WHO) came after Britain, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, the Philippines and Thailand all reported new deaths on Monday.

Australia, where the A(H1N1) strain of influenza has infected almost 10 000 people and been linked to 19 deaths, said it was placing an advance order for 21 million courses of a vaccine that is now under development.

Federal chief medical officer Jim Bishop, expressing hope that the government could launch a nationwide immunisation drive by October, warned that the "hard-edged" virus was now infecting young and healthy people.
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