PHM-Exch> A letter to DG, WHO - re: pneumococcal vaccine - (2)

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Louis Reynolds puffin at iafrica.com

We did respond to this on 29 April.

Not much support for the All India Drug Action Network position on the
pneumococcal vaccine here.
Quite the contrary.


>>> Gregory Hussey <*gregory.hussey at uct.ac.za*> 2009/04/28 09:59 PM >>>
They definitely have got it completely wrong. It is probably as a result
of people like Puliyal et al that India have still not introduced Hib
vaccine into their routine EPI program, despite the vaccine being around
for more than 20 years. In all the countries where Hib vaccine is used
(including SA and many others in Africa) the disease has virtually
disappeared. In case you have not seen the WHO position paper on
pneumococcal vaccine - see attached. To me one of the most dramatic
effect of the vaccine is the 16% decline in all cause mortality - which
certainly will make a major contribution to achieving MDG4.
You may also be interested in visiting a website we have set up to
promote vaccine advocacy in Africa - see www.vacfa.com
Dr Hussey is Director, Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular
Medicine,
Director, South African TB Vaccine Initiative,
University of Cape Town
 South Africa


Louis Reynolds wrote:
> Yes I think they have it wrong.
> Essentially I have a sense that Dr Puliyal is something of a crusader
> against vaccines. I have read their letter. It trivialises invasive
> pneumococcal infection, a major global killer, ignoring completely
> pneumococcal meningitis, and exaggerates asthma. There is no evidence
> that the vaccine causes asthma, though occasional reports have found
> increases admissions for asthma following the vaccine.
>
> If it is too expensive in India this is clearly important — I do not
> have clear info on the costs in different countries, but have papers
> that show the vaccine to be cost beneficial. It also has beneficial
> spin-offs for non-vaccinated people.
> >>> Gopal Dabade <*drdabade at gmail.com*> 2009/04/28 06:54 AM >>>
> Persons have reacted with disbelief at our posting on the WHO response
> to our letter titled “*WHO to blame for dangerous child vaccine?”
> *which was posted on PHM e-forum dated 24th April 2009 on the
> pneumococcal vaccine. AIDAN (*http://aidanindia.wordpress.com/*)
> <*http://aidanindia.wordpress.com/%29*> and its members now call for a
> wider debate on how MDG funds and GAVI funds are utilized.
> The pneumococcal vaccine illustrates the problem quite neatly. Madhi
> et al in the Bull WHO
> (*http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/86/10/08-056572.pdf*
> <*http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/86/10/08-056572.pdf*> ) have given
> data on the numbers actually helped by the vaccine. 1,000 children
> need to be vaccinated to prevent 4 cases of pneumonia. Given that the
> vaccine costs Rs 12,000 per child (US $ 250) in India, Rs 12 million
> (US $250,000) will be spent to prevent these 4 cases of pneumonia that
> would cost Rs 40 (US $1) to treat. This is the vaccine about which
> AIDAN wrote to the DG WHO and the reply dated 3rd April 2009 suggests
> that there seems to be a complete disconnect with the ground realities*.
> The reply sates:-
> *“We think that the introduction of pneumococcal vaccines, where
> merited by evidence of the disease burden, would be of tremendous
> benefit, saving many lives, particularly of children. WHO stands ready
> to assist its Member States to assess the need for the use of specific
> new vaccines, to aid in decision-making, prioritization and
> introduction, and to work on solutions for financing them. We look
> forward to creating a world where no person should die of a
> vaccine-preventable disease and to cooperating with countries and
> partners to realize this goal.”
> *By entering into AMC (Advance Marketing Commitments /for vaccines/,
> accessed at *http://www.vaccineamc.org/*)
> <*http://www.vaccineamc.org/%29*> with vaccine manufacturers to market
> this vaccine in developing countries MGD and GAVI funds are being
> siphoned off to vaccine manufacturers without commensurate benefits to
> the children in developing countries.
> *We call on PHM members and other like minded groups and individuals
> to lobby with their governments to demand more answerability from WHO
> on how it spends scarce MDG and GAVI funds
> *Dr Gopal Dabade
> Dr Jacob Puliyal
> All India Drug Action Network,
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://phm.phmovement.org/pipermail/phm-exchange-phmovement.org/attachments/20090804/85eb3fff/attachment-0001.html>