First human trials of new bird flu vaccine

Thirty healthy students and staff members aged 18-45 from the Military Medical Institute (MMI) volunteered to take part in the trial. The vaccine, 4 years in the making, has been developed from monkey kidney cells and was produced by the Vaccine and Bio-technology Products Company (VABIOTECH) from the National Hygiene and Epidemiology Institute. All of the volunteers.

As scheduled, the volunteers will first have their blood tested six times to evaluate the levels of antibodies and any side effects, head of the Epidemiology Department at the MMI Colonel Doan Huy Hong said. After 28 days they will receive the second shot and be monitored for 90 days.

According to the World Health Organisation, one dose of avian influenza type A (H5N1) vaccine is effective after two 1ml injections. The second injection is given 28 days after the first.

If the trial is successful, another 240 students and teachers at the MMI will take part in a second trial in June. If everything goes according to plan, the avian influenza H5N1 vaccine will be produced across the nation in 2009 at a price of nearly US$2 per dose.

According to director of VABIOTECH Prof Nguyen Thu Van, because the vaccine is totally new, it was very difficult to predict how the test would go. "Tests on animal have around an 80% success rate. However, we still did not know the appropriate dose for humans. So far, everything has gone as planned, we just have to wait for the results."