The vaccine is designed to blunt the effect of swine flu that could infect 100 million people in the US in a worst-case scenario.
Brave volunteers rolled up their sleeves on Monday for an injection in each arm, becoming some of hundreds of adults enrolled in an unprecedented flurry of fast-track swine flu vaccine trials being run in eight US cities.
Sharon Frey, lead investigator of the St Louis study, told reporters that volunteers have been pouring in due to intense publicity. The trials by the US government and five vaccine makers began late last week. “Typically, it takes a year to do this,” said Frey. “We’re working at breakneck speed.”
The vaccine is designed to blunt the effect of swine flu that could infect 100 million people in the US in a worst-case scenario. The first batches of the vaccine are expected to become available by October, assuming studies indicate it is safe and effective. US officials are racing against time to have 160 million doses available by autumn. In addition to the swine flu shots, the US is also cranking up production to meet the target of 120 million doses of seasonal flu vaccine by September.
The vaccination campaign could entail giving Americans three flu shots — one to combat annual seasonal influenza and two targeted at the new swine flu virus spreading across the globe.
The current trials in St Louis and other sites are scoping out the safety of the vaccine, helping determine dosage and whether it can be given with a seasonal flu shot.
“The H1N1 vaccine distribution effort will include the centralised distribution of the vaccine to as many as 90,000 sites across the country, making it the largest public health initiative,” said McKesson Corp.
American scientists have been monitoring swine flu’s spread for clues to how much of a threat it might pose by autumn.
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