swine flu vaccine rushed through safety checks -
experimental vaccine to be delivered in 'military-style operation' from times online: The path of a popular medicine from the laboratory to the chemist or doctor’s surgery can involve years of clinical trials on a select group of patients. When the new vaccine for swine flu arrives in Britain, regulators said this weekend, it could be approved for use in just five days. Regulators at the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) said the fast-tracked procedure has involved clinical trials of a “mock-up” vaccine similar to the one that will be used for the biggest mass vaccination programme in generations. It will be introduced into the general population while regulators continue to carry out simultaneous clinical trials. The first patients in the queue for the jab – being supplied to the UK by GSK and Baxter Healthcare – may understandably be a little nervous at any possible side effects. A mass vaccination campaign against swine flu in America was halted in the 1970s after some people suffered Guillain-Barré syndrome, a disorder of the nervous system... [Dr Peter Holden, the British Medical Association’s lead negotiator on swine flu] said it would be the biggest campaign in response to an outbreak since mass vaccination against smallpox in 1962. He said surgeries would be aiming to inoculate about 30 people an hour in a “military-style operation”.
baxter's many lethal 'accidents'
did the swine flu escape from a lab?
from washington's blog: National Public Radio notes that Professor John Oxford at St. Bart's and the Royal London Hospital says that the 1957 H1N1 pandemic probably started when it escaped from a lab: "'We reckon now, in retrospect, it was probably released accidentally from a laboratory, probably in northern China or just across the border in Russia, because everyone was experimenting with those viruses at the time in the lab.' It was nothing malicious, Oxford believes, just some flu vaccine research that broke out of containment." Similarly, Bloomberg notes: "Some scientists have speculated that the 1977 Russian flu, the most recent global outbreak, began when a virus escaped from a laboratory." In 2005, scientists thawed out samples of the 1918 flu and tested it. A new study says that the current swine flu is very similar to the 1918 flu, and that people who lived through the 1918 epidemic have immunity to the current flu. Leading flu expert Adrian Gibbs believes the current swine flu may have escaped from a lab. It is also interesting that 2 of the 3 flu pandemics of the last century - the 1918 Spanish Flu and the 1976 swine flu scare - both started at military bases. Specifically, the 1918 flu started at Fort Riley, Kansas. The 1976 swine flu started - and never spread beyond - Fort Dix, New Jersey. It is unclear whether or not those bases conducted defensive biowarfare research.
swine flu appears similar to 1918 virus;
who recommends vaccines use live influenza
florida preps for huge swine flu shot program
from florida today: Florida's surgeon general says the state is preparing for massive swine flu immunizations, starting with schoolchildren, as the Obama administration urges states to prepare for the likelihood that the virus might worsen in the fall. "We may end up averting a crisis. That's our hope," said President Barack Obama, who took time away from the G-8 summit in Italy to telephone another summit back home - the 500 state and local health officials meeting to prepare for swine flu's fall threat. "We want to make sure we aren't promoting panic, but we are promoting vigilance and preparation," Obama said. Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services, told the swine flu summit some H1N1 vaccine should be ready by mid-October.
new mexico dept of health prepares for influenza mass vaccination clinics dept continues to monitor h1n1 cases &
getting kids ready for soft kill vaccinations: 'mission set: immuno'
mandatory swine flu vaccinations this fall?
US orders $690m in swine-flu vax from novartis, $71m from gsk
military wants a swine flu greenhouse
google shuts office in india over swine flu fears &
uk health minister lord darzi quits ahead of h1n1 debacle
No Comment