Azerbaijan and the Republic of Moldova report first cases of pandemic (H1N1) 2009

Since the update of 24 July, Azerbaijan and the Republic of Moldova have reported their first laboratory-confirmed cases of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus infection. As of 31 July 2009, 46 of the 53 countries in the WHO European Region had reported such cases. Among laboratory-confirmed cases in the Region, 41 fatalities have been reported in 6 countries: Belgium, France, Hungary, Israel, Spain and the United Kingdom.

The 46 countries in the Region with confirmed cases are: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

Vaccine workshops

WHO/Europe is organizing a series of workshops on the deployment of pandemic influenza vaccine. The first meeting for western European countries will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark on 17–20 August 2009. People who are or will be involved in vaccine deployment (national immunization programme managers, chief logisticians and pandemic influenza focal points) are invited to attend.

The workshop will provide a forum for: 

  • sharing countries’’ achievements and challenges in making national vaccine deployment plans;
  • improving Member States’’ preparedness to respond effectively to the pandemic by reviewing strategies for the vaccination of risk groups and the timely and effective use of a pandemic influenza vaccine;
  • briefing participants on the operations, structures and resources needed to deploy and administer the vaccine once it is available in a country; and
  • providing participants with briefing and a hands-on exercise on the use of certain operational planning tools (such as a tool for calculating cold-chain volumes) required to deploy pandemic vaccines.