Vaccines dogged by slow distribution

WASHINGTON, Dec 18, 2005 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Companies have developed two vaccines they say might save millions of children's lives, but are having trouble getting medicine to poor countries.

One vaccine, Prevnar -- which protects against a life-threatening form of pneumonia -- has been available to children in the United States for five years and has had a dramatic impact on disease here. The other -- which protects against a deadly form of diarrhea -- is ready for release to middle-income countries in Latin America.

Prevnar attacks the germ streptococcus pneumoniae, which kills an estimated 1.6 million people a year, about half of them children in poor countries.

Efforts to distribute the vaccines have faltered., the Washington Post reported. One company cannot produce enough vaccine, and studies needed to support widespread use of another have been slowed by behind-the-scenes squabbling, the newspaper said.

The vaccines are expected to take an additional three to five years to reach the poorest villages.

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