Possible Bird Flu Vaccine From Taiwan

The new vaccine still has a long journey to go...

While Tamiflu is without a doubt the best drug on the market at present to beat the bird flu virus it is nevertheless something which should be taken after you contract the bird flu rather then a vaccine which is taken before. Drug companies and governments all over the globe are looking for the bird flu vaccine that will mean that any chance of a bird flu pandemic can be stopped immediately in its tracks.

In Taiwan scientists are busy with producing a bird flu vaccine that they say could be the answer to the bird flu problem. The team of scientists from the Vaccine Research & Development Centre which is based at the National Health Research Institute have been working on their vaccine for over a year and have spent millions of pounds to come up with their formula.

The scientists used a canine kidney cell in order to grow their vaccines unlike most other researchers who use chicken eggs to do so. The reason for this they said is that in a pandemic crisis it may be difficult to get chicken eggs whereas it would be far easier to get kidneys cells from a dog. Taiwan is in the part of the world where the most cases of bird flu have been reported and therefore they feel it is prudent to invest in a vaccine to protect their population.

The new vaccine still has a long journey to go before it can even made available to the general public as first it needs to go through safety trials and then following that it can be tested clinically for its efficiency in large groups of people. The scientists are confident that the drug will be fully approved by the relevant medical authorities and plans are going ahead to construct laboratories and factories to mass produce this new vaccine, and thus the country will become less reliant on the Tamiflu drug.