Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Preparations begin for mass production of H7N9 vaccine

Global Times (China): China has prepared the H7N9 vaccine seeds for mass production in case human-to-human transmission occurs, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC) said Monday.

China has manufactured some vaccine products and they could be used on high-risk groups, Zhong Nanshan, NPC deputy and member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said at a press conference at the annual parliamentary session.  Zhong, a pulmonologist, is the lead scientist who helped China battle SARS in 2003.

"China did a good job in 2009 when about 100 million people were vaccinated for the H1N1 virus," said Zhong, while stressing the effectiveness of vaccines when it comes to inter-human transmission.

In February, the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center announced that they have developed a genetically engineered vaccine for the H7N9 bird flu virus and have now entered the clinical trial application phase.

H7N9 cases were reported in several places in China and it has a mortality rate of 30 percent, Zhong said, adding that if the virus transmutes, it could lead to a larger outbreak....

A scientists at the US Centers for Disease Control transfers a sample of H7N9. Photo by James Gathany of the CDC

No comments: