TORONTO - Canada plans to buy some unadjuvanted swine flu vaccine to offer to pregnant women who might otherwise choose not to be vaccinated.
Chief Public Health Officer Dr. David Butler-Jones says Canada will buy 1.2 million doses of unadjuvanted pandemic vaccine for pregnant women, who are at higher risk of becoming severely ill and dying if they contract the virus.
The vaccine will be supplied by GlaxoSmithKline, Canada's pandemic vaccine manufacturer, and is expected to be available at the same time as the country's other supplies of vaccine.
Adjuvants are compounds that boost the immune system's response to vaccine, allowing smaller doses to be used per person.
None of the currently licensed flu vaccines in Canada contains an adjuvant and there are no data on the use of adjuvanted flu vaccine in pregnant women.
A World Health Organization advisory panel on vaccines recommended in June that unadjuvanted vaccine be used for pregnant women if it is available.
