The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7424 p504
28 October 2006

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National pandemic influenza preparedness plans criticised

Almost a third of national pandemic influenza plans do not make recommendations about who should receive antiviral drugs or who should be vaccinated against pandemic influenza as a priority, a study reveals.

US and Israeli researchers examined 45 national plans from both developed and developing countries, including the UK. They found that just under half (49 per cent) had prioritised who should receive antiviral drugs in the event of an influenza pandemic. More (62 per cent) had prioritised who should receive influenza vaccine. Almost 30 per cent had prioritised neither.

Allocation decisions varied across different countries, although health care workers were consistently ranked at the top of priority lists (published online in the October issue of PLoS Medicine 2006;3:e436).