It is rare when you are allowed onto the grounds of Sanofi Pasteur in Swiftwater.
The pharmaceutical company has tight security and the place is sterile but Wednesday Newswatch 16 was allowed beyond the gates to talk with officials from Sanofi, the only maker of the swine flu vaccine in the U.S.
There has been major criticism on how the H1N1 vaccine is being made, how much is being produced and why it is taking to so long to get to the people who need it most.
In a packed room of reporters at their Swiftwater facility, Sanofi Pasteur officials spoke in a rare news conference.
The vaccine maker's message was the challenges of producing the H1N1 or swine flu vaccine.
"When this came about we were actually in the middle of our seasonal flu campaign. That takes toughly eight months. So we start in January and normally finish in September. H1N1 came along in April and so we have had to piggyback, if you like, to production of H1N1 and juggle it around with seasonal flu," explained Sanofi Aventis CEO Chris Veihbacher.
He added on top of the 75 million doses of H1N1 vaccine they have committed to produce by the end of the year they still are responsible for 50 million doses of the seasonal flu vaccine.
Producing two vaccines at the same time has challenges. For instance, only one vaccine can be produced at the facility at a time and it takes months to create, produce, test and package.
Officials said production for the H1N1 vaccine is right on schedule, despite reports of delays.
"Some people say well what's the delay, what's the shortage? For us there is no delay. There has always been a period of time that is very fixed. We're talking about mother nature here," said Veihbacher.
Sanofi Pasteur officials said they are working with the Food and Drug Administration to try to streamline the testing process for next year to see if they can speed up production times without compromising safety.
By the end of the month, Sanofi said, it expects to ship out 20 million doses of the H1N1 swine flu vaccine and by the end of the year 75 million doses which will be what they promised all along.
Sanofi officials also announced the final safety study results for the swine flu vaccine.
They report no deaths or serious side affects were discovered in their two clinical trials.
The pharmaceutical company has tight security and the place is sterile but Wednesday Newswatch 16 was allowed beyond the gates to talk with officials from Sanofi, the only maker of the swine flu vaccine in the U.S.
There has been major criticism on how the H1N1 vaccine is being made, how much is being produced and why it is taking to so long to get to the people who need it most.
In a packed room of reporters at their Swiftwater facility, Sanofi Pasteur officials spoke in a rare news conference.
The vaccine maker's message was the challenges of producing the H1N1 or swine flu vaccine.
"When this came about we were actually in the middle of our seasonal flu campaign. That takes toughly eight months. So we start in January and normally finish in September. H1N1 came along in April and so we have had to piggyback, if you like, to production of H1N1 and juggle it around with seasonal flu," explained Sanofi Aventis CEO Chris Veihbacher.
He added on top of the 75 million doses of H1N1 vaccine they have committed to produce by the end of the year they still are responsible for 50 million doses of the seasonal flu vaccine.
Producing two vaccines at the same time has challenges. For instance, only one vaccine can be produced at the facility at a time and it takes months to create, produce, test and package.
Officials said production for the H1N1 vaccine is right on schedule, despite reports of delays.
"Some people say well what's the delay, what's the shortage? For us there is no delay. There has always been a period of time that is very fixed. We're talking about mother nature here," said Veihbacher.
Sanofi Pasteur officials said they are working with the Food and Drug Administration to try to streamline the testing process for next year to see if they can speed up production times without compromising safety.
By the end of the month, Sanofi said, it expects to ship out 20 million doses of the H1N1 swine flu vaccine and by the end of the year 75 million doses which will be what they promised all along.
Sanofi officials also announced the final safety study results for the swine flu vaccine.
They report no deaths or serious side affects were discovered in their two clinical trials.
