Since the start of the year, France, like many other countries, has had to face difficulties in the supply of hepatitis B vaccines intended for adults. Pediatric vaccines are not at all affected by this tension.
The General Directorate of Health (DGS) and the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) say they have found an alternative solution “to guarantee supply for the months to come and allow people who need it to be vaccinated “. But while waiting for this future re-supply, the High Council of Public Health has just published an opinion defining priority populations to vaccinate against hepatitis Bduring this “shortage” period.
Vaccines reserved for hospitals
Vaccines are reserved primarily for hospitals. For people not hospitalized, the HCSP recommends to vaccinate, as a priority:
• People who, in the context of their professional practice, are subject to compulsory vaccination, in particular health professionals exposed to the risk of contamination in a healthcare establishment, pupils or students of the health professions and the military in the incorporation.
• Other people: depending on the extent of their exposure to the risk (mainly people awaiting transplants, patients on dialysis or with chronic renal failure or even people who have to go to areas with moderate or high endemia. of this viral hepatitis).
Why this disruption of supply?
The supply difficulties of the Engerix B 20 vaccine marketed by the GlaxoSmithKline laboratory follow production problems of the viral strain. “The production of vaccines is complex and the manufacturing cycle is long (from 12 to 24 months) explaining the duration of the vaccine supply tensions” explains the Ministry of Health. These difficulties do not only concern France since the GSK laboratory markets the vaccine in more than a hundred other countries which are also experiencing these tensions.
Read also :
Our hepatitis B file
