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Advisory panel endorses first avian flu vaccine

Infection Control Monitor, March 2, 2007

A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel on February 27 endorsed the first vaccine for avian flu. However, the action was only a stop gap measure until pharmaceutical companies can develop better vaccines, reported the New York Times.

The experimental vaccine protected only 45% of the 91 people tested in a clinical trial. Reaching even that level of protection required 12 times the dose of antigen in a typical flu shot, which was given in two shots several weeks apart, the Times reported. However, the panel voted unanimously that the vaccine was effective enough to be used. The FDA usually accepts the recommendations from its advisory panels.

The government is stockpiling the vaccine and plans to use it to immunize emergency and healthcare workers in case of an outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu.

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