TALLINN — Swine flu caused another death in Estonia on Tuesday as a 31-year old man died in the hospital.

The Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs announced that the 31 year-old man died of pneumonia, but an official autopsy found him positive for the A/H1N1 virus. The man belonged to a risk group which will be eligible for a vaccine upon arrival.

The ministry is not revealing the man’s name or which hospital he died in for privacy concerns. This is the fifth swine flu death in Estonia.

Vaccine delays

The ministry reported Monday that a vaccine consignment of 100,000 doses from GlaxoSmithKline will not arrive by Dec. 15 but is delayed until Dec. 28. Only an order of 50,000 vaccines by Baxter will arrive as originally planned.

Jana Rosenfeld, media adviser of the Ministry of Social Affairs said the delay will not affect the vaccination as 50,000 vaccines is a sufficient quantity to cover two weeks until the new shipment arrives. Akshay Mody, head of GlaxoSmithKline Estonia explained that the delay is due globally large demand for flu vaccine.

“If usually 70 million doses is produced, then this year the amount is 700 million doses, and all countries are waiting for their shipments,“ Mody told Baltic Reports.

Mody said that concerning it was a last-minute order, Estonia is lucky enough.

The government gave 20 million krooni (€1.2 million) for 250,000 doses, and the last shipment with 100,000 doses will arrive in the beginning of January.

Rosenfeld said the supply should be enough, although determining the exact amount is difficult because it’s not clear how many people who are in the risk group will choose to be vaccinated.