Commentary

Epidemic control center to be dissolved as H1N1 threat wanes

The Department of Health will shut down the Central Epidemic Command Center as H1N1 has been downgraded to a seasonal flu. (CNA)

• Publication Date：02/24/2010
• Source： Liberty Times

The Department of Health petitioned the Executive Yuan Feb. 23 to disband the Central Epidemic Command Center, now that the World Health Organization has reclassified influenza A (H1N1) as a seasonal flu instead of a pandemic.

According to Chang Shan-chwen, deputy minister of the DOH, the nation’s second wave of H1N1 has come to an end. Taiwan’s situation corresponds closely with the global H1N1 trend, he added.

Vice Premier Eric Li-luan Chu, who is serving as commander-in-chief of the CECC, gave approval to the dissolution request during a CEEC meeting yesterday, sources said.

The petition will be formally granted by Premier Wu Den-yih on Feb. 25, but if there is a third outbreak of influenza A (H1N1) the CECC could be re-established again at any time.

The CECC was formed April 28, 2009, and has now been in existence for 303 days.

In related news, the practice of giving rapid-detection H1N1 diagnostic tests to patients showing flu-like symptoms will be discontinued at the end of March, said Shih Wen-yi, deputy director-general of the DOH's Centers for Disease Control. The government will also stop giving out free doses of the medication Tamiflu to patients who test positive on the tests, he added.

Beginning in April subsidized Tamiflu will be reserved for treating group infections or H5N1 bird flu cases, Shih said.

He added that the number of designated medical institutions offering H1N1 vaccination is expected to be lowered to around 600 from the current 3,000.

According to CDC data, only approximately 800 doses of the vaccine were given out Feb. 22. A total of 5.65 million doses have been administered since November 2009, when the free vaccination campaign began.

The CDC does not intend to return the remaining 9 million doses of vaccine to the manufacturer. Instead, Taiwan will donate the remaining vaccines to needy countries with which it has diplomatic relations, according to Shih, who added that the vaccines could still be used if there is a new outbreak of H1N1.

According to the latest H1N1 epidemic surveillance data, a total of 908 hospitalized cases of H1N1 infection have been reported in Taiwan. Of these cases, 41 have died, and thus H1N1 has had a mortality rate of 4.5 percent among critically ill patients. (KL)