First shipment of vaccines to Jordan expected in November

(MENAFN - Jordan Times) The first shipment of H1N1 (swine) flu vaccines is expected to arrive in the Kingdom after seven to 10 days, a Health Ministry official said on Sunday.

Primary Healthcare Director Adel Belbeisi told The Jordan Times that the vaccine manufacturing company was given the go-ahead yesterday to dispatch the first shipment of 12,000 vaccines, after receiving approval from the Jordan Food and Drug Administration (JFDA).

He noted that the first shipment will be used to vaccinate pilgrims, referring to a circular issued by Saudi authorities requesting that people preparing for the pilgrimage this year be vaccinated ahead of the Hajj season.

JFDA Director General Mohammad Rawashdeh said the administration approved the entry of the vaccines following a thorough study by the JFDA's vaccines and plasmas committee.

"The committee studied all documents related to the swine flu vaccines developed by two European companies that won a tender floated by the Ministry of Health earlier to provide 2.25 million vaccines," he told a press conference yesterday.

Rawashdeh said the approval was issued to one company, while the second might receive the go-ahead soon.

"The European Food and Drug Administration has approved this same vaccine, and this is an indicator that it is relatively safe," he noted, adding that the JFDA requested the company to provide a bi-weekly report updating the administration about any possible side affects.

"If there are any complications in the future in any country in the world that uses the vaccine, we will immediately stop using it in Jordan," Rawashdeh added.

He explained that in order for any vaccine to be allowed entry, the manufacturing company should provide the JFDA with an original Lot Release Certificate from the authorized health entities, a copy of the production batch record, in-process quality control testing during production and the product license certificate from the manufacturer.

In addition, the administration requested the two companies to provide documents showing that they conducted trials on a 9,000 sample study, according to Rawashdeh.

By Khetam Malkawi