Green light to stockpile bird-flu vaccine
22 May 2008
A vaccine called Preprandrix has won the race for European Commission approval, meaning governments preparing to fight a feared bird-flu pandemic can now order and stockpile the vaccine.
If bird flu starts to spread amongst humans this ‘pre-pandemic’ vaccine offers protection to more than 75% of people immunised, provided it is given out before or soon after the virus reaches us. Its use will buy vital time for a truly targeted vaccine to be made – work that can’t start until we see precisely which pandemic strain strikes.
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| Preprandrix is based on the aggressive H5N1 virus strain currently flying through the bird population. |
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