Posted on 08/08/2005 3:08:34 AM PDT by FYREDEUS
An experimental vaccine seems to protect people against the bird flu strain that experts fear could spark a deadly global pandemic, a U.S. government scientist says.
Anthony Fauci, the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Sunday that the U.S. government planned to arrange for mass production of the vaccine to start as early as mid-September.
U.S. health officials had already acquired more than two million doses of the vaccine from the French company that makes it, Sanofi-Aventi, in case their testing succeeded.
Government scientists tested the vaccine on about 450 healthy adults under age 65.
On Saturday, Fauci said that preliminary results from 115 of them showed an immune response that scientists believe is strong enough to protect against the H5N1 strain of avian flu.
The strain has killed millions of birds as it spreads in Asia and Russia, along with more than 50 people in Asia since 2003.
Although there haven't yet been any documented cases of human-to-human transmission, public health experts fear the virus will mutate and kill millions of people around the world.
Fauci warned that the biggest challenge now was to produce enough vaccine before that mutation occurred.
An influenza pandemic in 1918 killed 50 million people.
The U.S. scientists now plan to test the vaccine on people aged 65 and older, then on children.
If 'ifs' were wishes...
Only 115 of them had a strong enough response? That's only 25.5% of those vaccinated, true it's better than nothing in the case of a mutated avian flu. I wonder what the diclaimer will be for all those vaccinated and die anyway?
-sigh- @ disclaimers.
It SHOULD be something like; "Neither Sanofi-Avanti nor Govt officials can guarantee that this experimental vaccine will protect YOU from the Bird Flu...but hey if we could have saved 10 million who died of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic wouldnt that have been worthwhile? So we're trying to make it available in hopes it will help SOME...at least it's a chance...better than no chance..."
FYI Ping
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