PETALING JAYA: The shortage of certain types of influenza vaccines could end as early as next month with the arrival of new stock, says Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad (pic).
He said there is no need to panic as the ministry still has adequate supply of vaccines at its healthcare facilities.
Dzulkefly said the pharmaceutical and healthcare company handling the flu vaccines in Malaysia confirmed the upcoming arrival of the new stock.
“There was a high uptake globally. They informed me that they ran out, but they will be restocked in early March.
“They are, however, planning to switch to Trivalent Inactivated Influenza Vaccines (TIV) come September this year,” Dzulkefly told The Star.
The TIV protects against three different strains of the flu virus. Bivalent flu vaccines on the other hand protects against two strains, while quadrivalent flu vaccines protects against four.
The Star had earlier reported Federation of Private Medical Practitioners Associations Malaysia president Dr Shanmuganathan TV Ganeson saying that some vaccines are out of stock.
General practitioners are reported to be seeing a spike in demand following the death of Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu from pneumonia induced by influenza complications and the flu outbreak in Japan recently.
The ministry in a statement last week said there is no current spike of flu cases in Malaysia, citing data from the World Health Organization.
Dzulkefly said the influenza vaccine supply situation in Malaysia highlighted some challenges, namely in ensuring the stability of product availability, particularly for quadrivalent vaccines.
He said there are four registered influenza vaccine brands, but only two are currently actively available in the market.
They are Vaxigrip Tetra (Sanofi) and Influvac Tetra (Abbott), both of which are supplied under contract with the Health Ministry.
Fluarix Tetra (GSK) is no longer marketed, while there is no stock of SKYCellflu (Pharmaniaga Marketing, SK Bioscience Korea) in the country, he added.
“Currently, there is an unexpected surge in demand for influenza vaccines, affecting the supply of the two remaining products.
“Sanofi is working to secure supplies from Thailand and France to meet demand in the private sector, while Abbott, although still having stock, has commitments tied to its contract with the Health Ministry.”
He said the Pharmacy Services Programme is closely monitoring the vaccine supply at ministry facilities.
The National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency is also in communication with the product registration holders to ensure adequate supply.
“These proactive measures are crucial to ensure that the influenza vaccines meet the current demand, especially in efforts to strengthen public health protection during the flu season,” said Dzulkefly.
