Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free with Roula Khalaf, the Editor of the FT, selecting her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The European Commission has secured a deal for over 40 million doses of a vaccine against bird flu for 15 countries in Europe, in response to a rise in cases of the respiratory virus. The contract, announced this week, includes up to 665,000 vaccine doses from Australia-based manufacturer CSL Seqirus, with a provision for an additional 40 million vaccines over the next four years.
Governments are closely monitoring a surge in bird flu cases in animals, with 10 US states reporting outbreaks in cattle and three cases in humans who were exposed to dairy cows. The World Health Organization recently reported a death in Mexico from the H5N2 variant, previously undetected in humans. Although there have been no instances of human-to-human transmission, concerns have arisen over the safety of dairy and meat products. Despite the detection of the virus in US milk, pasteurisation effectively kills the pathogen, and meat from infected animals has not entered food supplies, according to the US agriculture department.
European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, emphasized the need to protect high-risk individuals, such as farm workers and veterinarians, from avian influenza. The EU has recorded 522 outbreaks of bird flu in wild and captive birds across 27 countries since the beginning of the year, with a low risk of transmission to humans in Europe. The first shipment of vaccines will be sent to Finland, targeting those most exposed to the virus. Manufacturing of the vaccines is taking place in CSL Seqirus factories in the Netherlands and England using egg-based methods, a traditional approach in vaccine development.
In the US, flu vaccines from GSK, Sanofi, and CSL Seqirus are available for protection against bird flu, with consideration for funding a late-stage trial of Moderna’s mRNA-based avian flu vaccine, offering faster scaling capabilities. UK drugmaker GSK and German biotech CureVac are also collaborating on an mRNA-based avian flu vaccine in early trials. While the US explores these options, the European Commission has not confirmed pursuing a similar deal. The agreement with CSL Seqirus will bolster Europe’s preparedness and rapid response capabilities in the face of potential threats from bird flu, supporting the safety of at-risk individuals and strengthening overall public health measures.
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