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Chan: Lack of H1N1 vaccine demand created surprise

20 January 2010 00:34 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ziya Agazade â€“ APA. The H1N1 influenza pandemic brought no "devastating surprises," but what has surprised public health agencies is the public’s lack of interest in getting vaccinated, Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said yesterday.

Chan, speaking at the opening of the WHO Executive Board’s meeting in Geneva, made the comment in the wake of moves by a number of European countries to reduce their vaccine orders in response to falling public demand for the vaccine.

"Although the virus has not delivered any devastating surprises, we have seen some surprises on other fronts," Chan said in her prepared remarks. "We anticipated problems in producing enough vaccine fast enough, and this did indeed happen. But we did not anticipate that people would decide not be vaccinated."

Chan said part of the problem is the sharp contrast between expectations based on the H5N1 avian flu threat and the pandemic that so far has occurred: "An event similar to the 1918 pandemic was feared, when what actually happened is probably closer to the 1957 or 1958 pandemics." But she also warned that another wave of cases may be on the way.