Finland Offers Bird Flu Vaccine to Farm Workers
- by Rishma Parpia
- Published
- Vaccines
Public health officials in Finland are preparing to offer H5N1 influenza (also known as avian influenza or bird flu) vaccines to people at who they believe are at risk of exposure to an avian influenza strain spreading among farmed and wild animals. Finland is the first country to administer avian influenza vaccines to certain populations of the general public.1
The Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), which is the European Union’s (EU) health crisis authority, signed a contract with CSL Seqirus, the manufacturer of the H5N1 vaccine, to secure 665,00 doses of its H5N1 flu vaccine to be distributed to 15 European countries. The first doses will be shipped to Finland.2
CSL Seqirus’ head of global medicine strategy, Raja Rajaram, said in a press release…
While the [European CDC] assesses the risk of infection from avian influenza to be low for the general population, it considers people with activities that expose them to infected animals or a contaminated environment at low-medium risk.3
2023 Avian Influenza Outbreak Among Birds and Animals in Finland
In 2023, there were a few outbreaks of avian influenza in wild and domestic birds in Finland. In July 2023, the southern and central Ostorbothnia regions of Finland reported an outbreak among farmed foxes, minks, and raccoons. It was only the second known outbreak in fur animal farms in Europe since an earlier outbreak in Spain.4
Ian Brown, PhD, chair of the OIE/FAO Network of Expertise on Animal Influenza (OFFLU), said at the World Health Organization’s briefing on the recent H5N1 developments that the virus does not thrive in humans and that the few cases in humans have been in people who have been in very close contact with infected poultry. Dr. Brown said that recent developments in the United States providing evidence for the presence of the avian virus in mammals raises concern because it is indicative of the potential of mammal-to-mammal transmission.5
In the U.S., three dairy workers were confirmed to have been infected by the avian influenza virus but the infections were all mild and there were no signs of transmission to other people.6
Finland To Offer Bird Flu Vaccine to Animal Farm Workers
The Finnish Food Authority recently called for improving biosecurity measures on Finnish farms. It was agreed with the Finnish National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) that vaccination against H5N1 should be offered to those working with poultry and on animal farms. Hanna Nohynek, Finland’s chief physician with the Infectious Diseases Control and Vaccines Unit said:
Last year the situation looked very alarming. This year has been more calm, but we know from the U.S. that the virus is still around, so we want to protect those who are working with animals that might be affected.7
Adverse Events Reported in CSL Seqirus’ H5N1 Vaccine Clinical Trials
This will be the first time that the CSL Seqirus’ H5N1 vaccine will be given to humans outside the research setting. According to the European Commission’s website, the incidence of H5N1 vaccine adverse reactions has been evaluated in seven clinical trials in healthy subjects, including over 4,300 adults and elderly receiving the zoonotic H5N1 influenza vaccine.
The most common adverse events reported in the clinical trials were headaches, myalgia; injection site swelling, pain, induration and redness; fatigue; malaise and chills. Other reported adverse events were nausea, sweating, arthralgia (joint pain), injection site ecchymosis (bruising) and fever. Reported rare adverse events included anaphylaxis.8
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