Finland to be first nation to administer bird flu vaccine into humans

Finland will become the world’s first nation to administer bird flu vaccinations stating next week, the nation’s health officials announced Tuesday.

The vaccinations are intended to prevent the onset of bird flu and will be given first to workers who are exposed to animals, starting with mink farms.

“The vaccine will be offered to those aged 18 and over who are at increased risk of contracting avian influenza due to their work or other circumstances,” officials for the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare said in a prepared statement.

Finland bought enough vaccines to use on 10,000 people, each of whom will get two injections.

The vaccines are part of an allotment of up to 40 million doses bought by the European Union from Australian vaccine-maker CSL Seqirus.

Some 665,000 doses were delivered to the European Union, and the rest could be delivered over four years.

The H5N1 bird flu strain is blamed for the deaths of hundreds of millions of birds in recent years and has been spreading to cattle herds throughout the United States and to people in some instances.

Finland hasn’t had any citizens or visitors test positive for the bird flu virus, but its fur farming operations are considered to run a high risk of transmission to people.

Finland’s Chief Physician Hanna Nohynek of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare told media the fur farms are especially vulnerable to bird flu due to fur-bearing animals having frequent contact with wildlife.

Finland’s fur farms last year killed about 485,000 animals to stop the bird flu from spreading and possible infecting humans.

(With inputs from agencies)