First Human Bird-flu Vaccine Approved

... in Europe. The States will have to wait, I guess. From MedIndia:

"London – 'Daronrix', Glaxo's bird-flu vaccine, will hold a pride of place in the annals of preventive medicine, to be the first experimental bird-flu vaccine to receive certification by the European Medicines Agency, for its use in protecting people in the event of a bird-flu pandemic.

This first generation vaccine can be used only after the WHO or the European Union officially declares a pandemic.

A second –generation vaccine has also been conceived by the same company, Glaxo, and work is underway to study the effects of the vaccine in combating the H5N1 virus strain. The product is slated to go in for approval in the subsequent weeks. This second generation vaccine is intended to strengthen the immune system, as a preventive measure against an imminent pandemic.

The vaccine is doubly beneficial as it has been developed necessitating lesser quantity of antigen to elicit a powerful immune response, which will allow the production of the vaccine in huge quantities, especially beneficial during mass vaccination programmes."

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Great news all-in-all, but I'm a little worried about the second-gen vaccine's "immune system boosting" effects. I was under that impression that a strong immune system is what leads to death from H5N1 - aka, the cytokine storm. Perhaps just a bit of bad reporting?

In other news, as of the end of this week President Bush still hasn't signed the bio-bill into law. My guess is that he is waiting until he's crafted a nice little signing statement to make the DHS more included.