Production of Bird Flu Vaccine for Humans Delayed
MOSCOW. Feb 7 (Interfax) – Production of a bird flu vaccine for humans is unlikely to begin before the spring migration, Russian Flu Research Institute Director Oleg Kiselyov told a news conference on Tuesday.
“We planned to begin production before the start of the migratory season, but will not be able to meet this deadline thanks to the fault of the manufacturers,” he said.
“The institute will search for an investor and begin making reserves of the vaccine at its laboratories. I believe that the chaos that has erupted in the country because of the struggle for bird flu vaccine reserves will stop,” he said.
A shortage of time may force the institute to abandon its vaccine based on the H5N1 strain found in Vietnam in 2004, Kiselyov said. In this case, a new vaccine will be developed using the bird flu strain found in Turkey in 2005, he said.
“I may go to London, where samples of the Turkish avian flu strain are being held, to study the situation and perhaps promote a new vaccine,” he said.
“The United States may be asked to provide its vaccine reserves,” he said.