# 1806
Should a pandemic erupt anytime soon, the global manufacturing capacity for making a vaccine won't be near enough to cover the needs of 6.5 billion people.
There are new and exciting cell-based manufacturing techniques that hold the promise of making large quantities of vaccine relatively quickly, but we are still several years away from having those in place.
Even then, the logistics of manufacturing, distributing, and administering a vaccine to billions of people will remain a daunting and time consuming task.
Some nations are therefore working on manufacturing or acquiring stockpile of pre-pandemic vaccine. Something they hope will provide at least partial protection against the virus for their essential workers while a strain specific vaccine can be created.
Vietnam is one of the countries working on such a vaccine, and they are now planning to go ahead with human testing.
Vietnam to begin testing type A/H5N1 vaccine on humans
16:29' 18/03/2008 (GMT+7)
Type A/H5N1 patients
VietNamNet Bridge – The Health Ministry on March 17 approved the testing of type A/H5N1 vaccine on humans. This vaccine is produced by a local company, Vabiotech.
The testing, conducted by the Military Health Institute, will begin this March and last for eight months, according to Thanh Nien newspaper.
The test will feature two phases to determine the vaccine’s safety and the suitable dosage.
Last year the vaccine was tested on mice, and was efficacious in preventing them from contracting the toxic A/H5N1.
In related news, the fifth death by type A/H5N1 virus was reported yesterday. The victim was an 11-year-old boy from Hanoi, who died on March 14.
Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper on March 13 quoted Doctor Nguyen Hong Ha, Vice Head of the National Hospital for Infectious and Tropical Diseases, as saying that H5N1 is mutating because the fatality rate of type A/H5N1 patients is over 90% recently.
Dr. Nguyen Huy Nga, Head of the Veterinary Agency, said the World Health Organisation (WHO) has continuously warned about the mutation of H5N1 virus and the risk of transmission of the virus from humans to humans.
Related Post:
Widget by [ Iptek-4u ]