Bird flu: Canada buys 500 000 H5N1 vaccines as US scrambles to rehire bird flu staff

Canada has bought half a million vaccines designed to prevent H5N1 avian influenza in humans.The vaccines are intended to stamp out any potential human transmission of the disease by immunising those most at risk, such as farm workers, medical staff, and veterinarians.1 Some 60% of the doses will be distributed to the provinces, while the remaining 200 000 are held in a federal reserve.The vaccine, GSK’s Arepanrix H5N1 A/American wigeon clade 2.3.4.4b, is based on existing seasonal flu vaccine technology. It was approved in Canada on 19 February, the day the order was placed.In December the UK ordered five million doses of human H5 influenza vaccine from Seqirus UK.2Experts fear that Canada is entering a dangerous period as migratory birds return from their southern winter grounds—almost certainly carrying new mutations of H5N1 virus—while the human H1N1 flu season is still in full swing. The swapping of viral genetic material in…