China rushes swine flu vaccine into production

Posted By Joshua Keating Wednesday, September 9, 2009 - 11:51 AM Share

China's food and drug administration has approved the world's first vaccine for the H1N1 virus and the government has announced plans to 5 percent of the Chinese population by the end of this year. Not everyone's so sure about it though:

Skeptics, however, have a hard time believing that a one-dose vaccine lacking a special substance called an adjuvant -- which primes the body to react to the dead virus and produce antigens against it more efficiently and effectively -- can work as well as a two-dose one.
"It would be hard for me to imagine a single-shot vaccine without an adjuvant," says Barry R. Bloom, the former dean of Harvard's School of Public Health. "My understanding in trials here is that you need more than one shot with just the straight virus to get a good enough immune response."
The study that preceded the vaccine's approval tested it on 1,614 participants from age three to over 60, according to Sinovac's head of investor relations, Helen Yang.
Stanford researcher David B. Lewis, who is involved in studies that test how adjuvants can improve seasonal flu vaccines, says it could be misleading to lump the results of all age groups together.

The WHO has also expressed some reservations about the size of China's vaccination plan, noting that "adverse effects that are too rare to show up in a large clinical trial could become apparent when much larger numbers of people receive the vaccine."

Given the speed at which China rushed this vaccine into production and the past record of the country's pharmaceutical industry, I think I would take my chances with the swine flu.

EXPLORE:CHINA, PUBLIC HEALTH

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GRANT

8:14 AM ET

September 10, 2009

Likely the central government

Likely the central government is far more worried about appearances of not reacting quickly then they are about the risks of moving too quickly.

ISABELLAI

4:33 AM ET

September 24, 2009

Swine Flu

The 2009 flu pandemic in Asia, part of an epidemic in 2009 of a new strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 causing what has been commonly called swine flu, has afflicted at least 97,987 people in Asia with 563 confirmed deaths: there have been 161 deaths confirmed in India, followed by 142 deaths in Thailand, 74 deaths in Malaysia, 28 deaths in Philippines and 26 deaths in Saudi Arabia. Among the Asian countries, Thailand has the most confirmed cases, followed by Hong Kong, Japan and Malaysia.And maybe a payday loans may at leat help.

MORNING

10:01 AM ET

September 28, 2009

re:

It would be hard for me to imagine a single-shot vaccine without an adjuvant,Tiffany Jewellery " says Barry R. Bloom, the former dean of Harvard's School of Public Health Ed Hardy ...

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