Safety

HHS to produce new cell-based flu vaccine

Emergency Management Alert, April 5, 2005

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced last week that it will speed the process for a new influenza vaccine in the United States. HHS awarded a $97 million contract to Sanofi Pasteur to produce the new vaccine.

"This action begins the process of speeding up influenza vaccine production, improving surge capacity, and scaling up U.S. manufacturing capability," HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said. "As a result, this should allow the U.S. to have influenza vaccines in a more timely, less laborious manner, and it provides another tool for responding to and controlling a global influenza pandemic."

The new vaccine will be cell-based and not produced in chicken eggs. This new approach will offer a number of benefits. Vaccine manufacturers will no longer have to wait for the virus strains to grow in eggs, allowing for surge capacity needs in the event of a shortage or pandemic. This type of vaccine production also can be frozen in advance. In addition, people who are allergic to eggs will now be able to take advantage of this vaccine.

 

 

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