Swine Flu Vaccine May Be Months Away, Experts Say

A News & Events entry posted on April 29, 2009

Federal officials said it would take until January, or late November at the earliest, to make enough vaccine to protect all Americans from a possible epidemic of swine flu.

And beyond the United States and a few other countries that also make vaccines, some experts said it could take years to produce enough swine flu vaccine to satisfy global demand.

Although production is much faster than would have been possible even a few years ago, it still may not be in time to avert death and illness if the virus starts spreading widely and becomes more virulent, some experts said.

In this country, the biggest problem is that despite years of effort, the country is still relying on half-century-old technology to make the flu vaccines.

Federal authorities have spent years and more than a billion dollars trying to shift vaccine production to a faster, more reliable method — one that involves growing the vaccine viruses in vats of cells rather than in hen’s eggs, the old technology. And there are numerous small companies developing totally new approaches that might allow for the production of huge volumes of vaccines in a matter of weeks.

Federal officials have not yet made a decision on whether the swine flu is enough of a threat to warrant vaccine production. But they are taking the initial steps.

A potential problem is that producing swine flu vaccine might interfere with production of the seasonal flu vaccine for next winter.

But Robin Robinson, who runs the emergency preparation research program for the federal Department of Health and Human Services, said most manufacturers would have finished producing the bulk of seasonal vaccine by June.

If production of the swine flu vaccine were to start right after that, the first 50 million to 80 million doses would be available by September, Dr. Robinson said.

For the full article refer to the New York Times website.