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A World Health Organization (WHO) official announced on Monday that the swine flu pandemic has grown “unstoppable” and that all countries need access to vaccines as seven (7) new deaths were reported coming from Britain, Thailand and the Philippines. As the death toll increases, the WHO official said that a swine flu vaccine should be available by September and that all countries would need to be able to protect themselves.

Health workers should be the top priority for the vaccines since they will be in high demand as people continue to get sick. Pregnant women and anyone over six months old with chronic health problems should be next in the list of priorities, said the WHO official. A special attention should also be given to children since they are considered “amplifiers” of the spread of the virus, especially when gathered in schools.

The A(H1N1) virus or most commonly known as the Swine Flu, as how it was referred to early on, is already in the Philippines. As of yesterday (June 1, 2009), the number of persons afflicted with this virus is up to twenty one (21). The alert level is likewise raised to Level 2 by the Department of Health (DOH).

The DOH has been monitoring Two Hundred and Eighty Five (285) patients who showed signs of the influenza virus. These patients are called Cases Under Observation (CUOs) by the DOH. The monitoring started on May 1, 2009 and 21 cases have been laboratory confirmed so far.