Nunavut gets adjuvant-free H1N1 vaccine
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 3, 2009 | 1:03 PM CT
CBC News
Pregnant women in Nunavut will soon be able to get the adjuvant-free swine flu vaccine, says the territory's chief medical officer.
Dr. Isaac Sobol told CBC News that about 600 doses of the adjuvant-free H1N1 influenza vaccine will be shipped to several Nunavut communities late Tuesday.
An adjuvant is a substance added to a vaccine to stimulate a stronger immune response. National guidelines recommend that pregnant women get the adjuvant-free version of the H1N1 vaccine because there has not been a lot of research done on the use of adjuvants during pregnancy.
"We're going to be getting the shipment of the unadjuvanted vaccine that's provided by an Australian manufacturer," Sobol said Tuesday.
"The arrival time of that vaccine is this afternoon, with some of it arriving in Iqaluit, some in Cambridge Bay and some in Rankin Inlet."
The adjuvant-free vaccine should be available throughout the territory within days, Sobol said.
Additional doses will be shipped when the Canadian-made version of it is available.
Since Nunavut began rolling out its H1N1 vaccine campaign on Sunday, nurses have not been giving the existing vaccine — which has the adjuvant included — to pregnant women.
But Sobol said if a woman who is more than 20 weeks pregnant wants the adjuvanted vaccine, they would not be refused.
