Tests Dash Bird Flu Vaccine Production Hopes
The principal bird flu vaccine manufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur, announced on 12/16/05 that test results indicate their vaccine will not work adequately when combined with another chemical to spread supplies.
The first tests of H5N1 vaccine in the US in August 2005 found that the virus on its own does not stimulate much immunity in people. To elicit enough to ward off disease, a vaccine required 90 micrograms of the virus’s main surface protein - six times more than is needed in ordinary flu vaccine. Sanofi Pasteur had hoped to stretch supplies by combining the vaccine with an called an immune stimulating chemical called an adjuvant. But the tests failed. That means there probably won't be enough supplies, fast enough. If all the world's influenza vaccine companies were to produce this vaccine for six months, there would be enough to vaccinate only 225 million people.
The founder of the vaccine industry’s pandemic task force said, “The prospects for developing a pandemic vaccine that can be produced in the quantities the world will demand are now enormously more difficult.” Source: New Scientist
About the Author:
William Prescott is a health care researcher and author, focusing on science-based CAM (Complimentary and Alternative) healthcare solutions to contemporary medical challenges. |
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