The first batches of swine flu vaccine rolled out from baxter labs

NEW DELHI: The first batches of swine flu vaccine rolled out from Baxter Inc labs on Friday but there’s little to cheer for India. While the first supplies from Baxter went to the British health network, subsequent batches from Baxter and other pharma companies have been booked by countries such as US and UK which are stockpiling the vaccine to ward off a harsher bout of swine flu. While huge quantities — 195 million and 90 million doses respectively are going to the US and UK — India is still miles from getting vaccines because the government has not entered into any pre-booking contracts with Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline or any others. India also may not have its indigenous vaccine ready before May 2010. China has 20-odd companies racing to make the vaccine, with Sinovac Biotech perhaps the first company worldwide to complete clinical trials for swine flu vaccine.WHO said recently that countries in the northern hemisphere had ordered more than a billion doses, sparking warnings about shortages. Developing a vaccine is the only way to protect people from the disease, which may become severe with the onset of winter and the dire possibility of the H1N1 virus mutating.Despite the swine flu toll touching 90, Indian health authorities have failed to move fast enough. The government has also not placed any orders with domestic manufacturers — Serum Institute, Panacea Biotec and Bharat Biotec which are developing the vaccine. (Cadila Pharma is also developing a vaccine in collaboration with US company Novavax). Serum Institute executive director SS Jadhav told TOI, ‘‘No talks have been held with procurement agencies regarding their plans of stockpiling the vaccine, including the quantity required and target group of population.’’ As a result, companies aren’t sure about the quantities of vaccine they must produce. When contacted, Dr VM Katoch DG, ICMR, said, ‘‘We have asked global companies like Novartis to include Indians in their clinical trials to test efficacy of the vaccine on our population. We are waiting for their reply.