Swine flu vaccine shortage: maybe women don't need such big doses after all
Seems nearly everyone who wants a swine flu vaccine these days can't find one. Hospitals don't have enough to inoculate their at risk patients, pregnant women can't find the vaccine at their doctors offices and pediatricians have told parents of young children that they may only be able to get one dose of the vaccine, not the recommended two courses.
Manufacturing delays have caused unexpected shortages of the vaccine and huge lines like this one (right) are forming outside clinics nationwide.
While the government assures us that more vaccine is on the way, other public health experts think we may have the formula all wrong. The government would have more supply to go around if it took into account the immune response differences between men and women, argues a new op-ed in today's NYT by Sabra L. Klein, assistant professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Phyllis Greenberger, president and chief executive of the nonprofit Society for Women’s Health Research.
Right now, men and women get the same doses of the vaccine. Yet, research shows that women tend to generate a stronger immune response than men, so they would likely need less vaccine to be protected, according to the piece. Accounting for such differences would allow health officials to stretch vaccine supply further.
The research is quite interesting, and I have yet to hear any other public health official make mention of it. The authors quote a recent study showing that women produce as many antibodies to half a vaccine dose as men did to a full dose. While more study on such differences is needed, the evidence could have been used to help dole out more vaccine to more people, the authors say.
Taking into account such differences, could mean vaccinating more people faster -- not only in this country, but in poor nations across the globe who will undoubtedly struggle to vaccinate their populations, the authors conclude.
Baltimore Sun photo
