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RIYADH, Nov 7 (Reuters) - British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline is currently Saudi Arabia's sole supplier of an H1N1 flu vaccine but the kingdom may include other firms for the supply of a nationwide inoculation campaign, the health ministry said.
Saudi Arabia's vaccination campaign was launched on Saturday and will first focus on pilgrims and health workers.

"For the moment, the only vaccine that has been authorised is the GlaxoSmithKline vaccine Pandemrix," health ministry spokesman Khaled Mirghalani told Reuters.
"We will in the future get vaccines from other clients, from other companies, as soon as they get approved by the SFDA (Saudi Food and Drug Authority)," he said.
Around 3 million Muslim pilgrims from more than 160 countries take part in the haj in the holy city of Mecca most years, including up to 2 million who travel from abroad. Haj this year will start in during the last week of November.
Disease experts from the United States and Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, have said waves of the H1N1 flu virus spread by pilgrims travelling to and from Mecca for haj could put pressure on healthcare systems around the world.
The pilgrimage provides perfect conditions for the spread of the H1N1 flu virus, which is transmitted by sneezing and physical contact.
The country will launch later this month a second inoculation campaign aimed at schools, Health Minister Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz al-Rabeea said on Saturday.

GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi-Aventis are among some 25 companies producing pandemic vaccine and other drugmakers including Switzerland's Roche Holding are making antivirals for use as a frontline H1N1 drug.
According to the World Health Organization's latest death toll, which is thought to underestimate the total spread of the virus, at least 6,000 people worldwide have died as a result of an H1N1 infection since its discovery earlier this year in Mexico and the United States.

(Reporting by Nael Shyoukhi; Writing by Raissa Kasolowsky) Keywords: FLU SAUDI/GLAXO (raissa.kasolowsky@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: raissa.kasolowsky.reuters.com@reuters.net; +971 4 391 8031)

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RIYADH, Nov 7 (Reuters) - British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline is currently Saudi Arabia's sole supplier of a vaccine for the H1N1 flu virus, the health ministry spokesman said on Saturday. "For the moment, the only vaccine that has been authorised is the GlaxoSmithKline vaccine Pandemrix," health ministry spokesman Khaled Mirghalani told Reuters.
"We will in the future get vaccines from other clients, from other companies as soon as they get approved by the SFDA (Saudi Food and Drug Authority)," he said.
(Reporting by Nael Shyoukhi, writing by Raissa Kasolowsky; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani) Keywords: FLU SAUDI/GLAXO

(raissa.kasolowsky@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: raissa.kasolowsky.reuters.com@reuters.net; +971 4 391 8031)

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By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO, Nov 6 (Reuters) - U.S. health officials said on Friday they are making progress in improving the supply of H1N1 vaccine to state health departments and urged people frustrated by long lines and scarce supply not to give up.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Dr. Anne Schuchat said there are now twice as many doses of vaccine available as there were two weeks ago, with 38 million doses ordered or available for ordering by states.
The figure is still below the government's earlier estimate of 40 million doses available by the end of October, but Schuchat said the pace of progress is improving.
"Today's number is up more than 11 million doses from last Friday's amount. That is progress. If all goes well, we're expecting about 8 million doses to be available in the week ahead," Schuchat told a news briefing.
The U.S. government initially projected that 20 million doses would roll out every week, but companies manufacturing them are producing only about 10 million doses a week or fewer, depending on when batches are ready.
The shortage of H1N1 vaccines has heaped pressure on public health departments across the country that must dole out the scare vaccine to groups at the highest risk from swine flu. Children and young people under age 24, pregnant women, healthcare workers and people with underlying health conditions are supposed to get the shots first.
The United States buys both seasonal and H1N1 vaccine from five makers -- GlaxoSmithKline Plc, AstraZeneca Plc's MedImmune unit, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis , and CSL Limited.
Robert Blendon of the Harvard School of Public Health and colleagues found that only 5 percent of Americans they polled have been vaccinated against H1N1 so far.

Their nationally representative survey of 1,073 adults found that 17 percent of all adults and 41 percent of parents had tried to be vaccinated.
But just 21 percent of high-priority adults, such as asthma patients, have tried to be vaccinated. Of those who tried to get an H1N1 vaccine, 30 percent succeeded.
"We still don't have enough vaccine. We know that communities are seeing lots of demand and the supply has hasn't caught up with that. We do need more, but we think we're moving towards a path of improvement at this point," Schuchat said.
The pandemic H1N1 virus has infected millions globally, with more than 5,000 documented deaths, including more than 1,000 Americans.
Schuchat said swine flu is still widespread in 48 states and she does not believe the pandemic has reached its peak, noting that flu season can last through May.
"Most of the illness we are seeing is in younger people," she said. The latest count shows 129 children have been killed by the virus in the United States since April, up from 114 a week ago.
Two thirds of those deaths have been in people with underlying conditions such as cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and asthma.
On Thursday, New York City health officials scrambled to explain themselves in the wake of media reports that bankers got scarce H1N1 flu vaccines at work.
Schuchat said state and local health departments are best placed to make the decision about where the vaccine goes, but added, "We work very closely with the states and have been emphasizing the priority populations."
(Additional reporting by Maggie Fox in Washington; editing by Philip Barbara)
((julie.steenhuysen@thomsonreuters.com ; +1 312 408 8131) Keywords: FLU/USA

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By Kate Kelland

STOCKHOLM, Nov 6 (Reuters) - The H1N1 pandemic flu virus could kill up to 40,000 people across Europe and be followed by seasonal flu waves that could kill the same number, European health experts said on Friday.
The Sweden-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said epidemics of H1N1, known as swine flu, were now affecting almost all countries in the European Union but it could not predict how intense the peaks would be.
What was certain, it said, was that the pandemic would continue to kill thousands and put many patients into intensive care as the northern hemisphere's winter sets in.
"All European countries will be affected, and this will put considerable stress on healthcare systems," said ECDC director Zsuzsanna Jakab.
The ECDC, which monitors disease in the European Union and European free trade area (EFTA), said it was hard to predict what the mix of pandemic and seasonal flu viruses would bring but there was a risk of seasonal flu epidemics "early in 2010 when the pandemic waves have passed".
Angus Nicoll, the ECDC's flu coordinator, said in non-pandemic situations, seasonal flu could kill up to 40,000 people in Europe -- and H1N1 could do the same.
"That is not a trivial number," he said. "And the fact that H1N1 is happening in younger adults, pregnant women and people without risk factors ... makes it feel different."

The ECDC said experience from the United States and the southern hemisphere showed pregnant women with the virus are 10 times more likely to need intensive care than those with no risk factors. Those with asthma and chronic respiratory diseases have three times the risk and the very obese six times the risk.
But it also said evidence so far shows some 20 to 30 percent of H1N1 deaths are among healthy young people.
The ECDC's latest daily update said all 27 EU and four EFTA countries have cases of H1N1 pandemic flu and there have been 389 deaths linked to H1N1 in the region since April, including 154 in Britain, 73 in Spain, 25 in Italy and 22 in France.
The ECDC's global toll showed 6,005 fatal cases of H1N1 have been reported. The WHO, which updates its figures weekly, said on Thursday 5,712 people have died worldwide since H1N1 was discovered earlier this year.
The ECDC said the numbers of fatal cases associated with pandemic flu were "likely to be gross underestimates" as access to healthcare and lab tests varied from country to country.

GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi-Aventis are among some 25 companies making pandemic vaccines, while other drugmakers including Roche are making antiviral therapies for use as frontline H1N1 treatment.
Nicoll said vaccination programmes which started in some European countries in recent weeks were vital to protecting those most at risk but had come too late to halt the disease.
"We're not trying at this stage to protect the whole of society with the vaccines. The strategy is to protect the vulnerable."

(Editing by Janet Lawrence) Keywords: FLU/EUROPE (kate.kelland@thomsonreuters.com; +44 (0)7990 567 059)

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