Irvine plant on swine flu standy

Jul 3 2009 by Lex Brown, Irvine Herald

A MASS immunisation plan will swing into action at the giant GlaxoSmithKline plant in Irvine if swine flu spreads to the town.

Workers and their immediate families along with contractors working at the massive factory at Oldhall will be given a course of anti-viral treatment.

The huge operation is similar to the plan for anti-bird flu treatment put on stand-by two years ago.

Part of the actives plant has been restarted to make the anti-viral treatment Relenza.

Workers ready to retire have been asked to hold back to staff the operation for the next six months.

The company are preparing to protect staff and their families to ensure continued production of the inhaler spray.

This week one worker told the Irvine Herald: “We been told that Relenza production must go ahead at all costs.

“It would ironic if we were making the anti-swine flu treatment and production was halted because we were hit with the illness.”

This week the company confirmed they were geared up if the pandemic hit.

A spokeswoman said they had a responsibility to provide an uninterrupted supply of critical medicines during a flu pandemic.

She went on: “As part of our business continuity planning all current employees and their family will be covered.

“We have also identified a number of contractor roles that are vital to ensuring the safe and secure supply of key essential pharmaceutical products from our site.

“In the event of pandemic flu becoming locally active, our plans include offering anti-viral treatment to contractors who support our business critical processes, production and distribution operations.

“For example, site security, selected plant maintenance, utilities workers and all persons involved in ongoing manufacturing and distribution of public health critical products.

“We also have a flu information resource centre on intranet which provides news, and any changes will be included as part of our pandemic flu preparedness plans.”