U.S. Lines up Vaccine Makers to Fight Swine Flu

Baltimore Sun ^ | May 1, 2009 | Stephanie Desmon & Kelly Brewington

[nickcarraway]

U.S. health authorities are lining up vaccine makers to develop a defense against virus posing global peril

Federal health authorities, busily assessing the scope of the swine flu outbreak, are preparing in case a vaccine is needed to stem the spread of the disease that has sickened more than 100 in the United States and killed a 22-month-old boy in Texas.

The development of a vaccine is a long, painstaking, fairly crude process that typically involves growing the virus in millions of chicken eggs. It would be months before the first person could be inoculated. Still, scientists with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are working with vaccine makers to begin the process and in coming weeks make the call: Should vaccine production be ramped up in time for the traditional flu season this fall? If it's not, will people be at risk for a deadlier version of the virus that could hit once the weather gets cold again?

Then, there is the question of who gets the vaccine, Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC, said Thursday.

"Who are the risk groups who are at greatest risk for having bad outcomes from the flu?" he said. "It's less of a science decision than a societal decision. We would not be able to have vaccine for 300 million people."

Seasonal flu vaccines, which many Americans get annually, are not effective against the swine flu, which is made up of genes from porcine, avian and human influenza.

The swine flu outbreak began in Mexico where it has killed more than 150 people, sickened thousands there and has been confirmed in a dozen other countries. Six likely cases in Maryland still have not been confirmed by the CDC, and state officials said Thursday that there were two more probable cases -

[Robert Drobot]

I read somewhere the main supplier of Swine/Human vaccine used by the federal marxists would be China, sold by their product rep in the U.S.A. - Wal*Mart.

[piytar]

That should be “Vaccine Maker,” not “Vaccine Makers.” Why is there only one large scale vaccine maker left in the US? Ask Hitlary: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/Hillarys%20Vaccine%20Shortage.html

[FroggyTheGremlim]

I don’t know - maybe I’ll pass on a government-sponsored vaccine made by a government-sponsored politically correct vaccine-maker.

Maybe I’ll have better odds facing the virus itself?

[wolfpat]

Questions still linger over a 1976 swine flu scare in which the quickly developed vaccine was believed to be linked to a rare, but serious, side effect.

IIRC, didn't the vaccine kill more people than the flu?

[dawn53]

Yes...killed and caused serious illness. One person died of the flu, a soldier at Ft Dix. In this country only one person has died so far (the Mexican child who had a pre-existing medical condition.)

[Guenevere]

My husband (who is not given to hysterics by any stretch of the imagination) still says today he had the first symptoms of Guillain-Barre syndrome in 1976 after taking the quickie vacccine.

Thankfully it didn't progress....but we think we will pass on this one.

Don't trust quickie vaccines...dont't trust this government to care whether we live or die.

[Venturer]

By the time they get the vaccine the flu will have run it’s course.

Is a vaccine really necessary and shouldnt they be working harder on a cure?

[DvdMom]

flu virus ping

[COBOL2Java]

Then, there is the question of who gets the vaccine, Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC, said Thursday.

Silly question. This is a Democrat-controlled government. The ruling class gets first dibs!

[Smokin' Joe]

Ping (Thanks, DvdMom!)