On November 22, Chinese scientists announced that a bird flu vaccine they developed has been approved by the Chinese Food and Drug Administration and will proceed to human trials.
Yin Weidong, the general director of Sinovac Biotech, one of the manufacturers of the bird flu vaccine, stated that the first 100 individuals will receive the vaccine following successful safety and efficacy trials in animals, including ferrets, chickens, chicken eggs, monkey cells, and mice.
According to today’s issue of Beijing News, the bird flu vaccine was developed through a collaboration between Sinovac Biotech and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention over the course of 21 months. This initiative aims to combat the H5N1 bird flu virus, which is rampant in Asia and several European countries.
The upcoming human trials are designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the bird flu vaccine and its suitability for inducing immunity in the shortest possible time, according to Yin Weidong.
Previously, researchers obtained the bird flu virus strain from the World Health Organization (WHO) and cultured it in embryos of 7-day-old chicken eggs. They ensured that the chicken embryos continued to develop normally within the eggs before extracting the embryos after three days of development. “We have prepared 900,000 embryos infected with the bird flu virus,” Yin Weidong mentioned.
Similar studies have also been conducted in the United States, Japan, and various other European countries.
Currently, China is experiencing multiple outbreaks of bird flu. The country has also reported cases of fatalities linked to suspected bird flu infections, with one case in Hunan province recovering after hospitalization.
T.VY (According to Xinhua)
