# 2780
Today's announcement, that China has stockpiled an unspecified quantity of human H5N1 vaccine, may simply be timed to calm growing public jitters over the recent spate of human bird flu cases.
Last April, China announced their intention to create a stockpile, using an inactivated whole-virus product made by Sinovac. The Chinese State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) approved the vaccine after successful Phase I and Phase II trials.
Lisa Schnirring, of CIDRAP NEWS, provided her usual excellent coverage of that story here.
So the fact that they have a vaccine stockpile comes as no surprise. As far back as 2006, Sinovac had announced their intention to produce `20 million doses of a vaccine over the next few years'.
The statement by the (SFDA) spokesperson that -`sufficient quantities must be stored ahead of any outbreaks so vaccinations can be started immediately' - I'm sure sounds good to the citizenry of China.
How much vaccine they actually have stockpiled, and exactly who is in line to get it, was left unsaid.
It isn't likely, however, that China has enough vaccine for more than a very small percent of their people.
Drug regulator:China stockpiles bird flu vaccine for possible outbreak
www.chinaview.cn
2009-02-11 23:07:50
BEIJING, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- China has built up stockpiles of domestically produced human bird flu vaccine in case of a possible epidemic, the nation's food and drug regulator said here Wednesday.
The vaccine, Panflu, is produced by the Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech Co., Ltd. It is designed to defend humans from 18 to 60 years old against the H5N1 virus and its epidemic variety, said Yan Jiangying, a spokeswoman with the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA).
According to the Health Ministry, China has recorded eight cases of human bird flu since December with five fatalities.
"In consideration of the serious situation, we've adopted a new measure of simultaneous inspections of the vaccine. That is, the administration and the company check the products at the same time, for efficiency, thus they can be immediately brought into use if outbreaks erupt," Yan said.
She explained that as production of the vaccine takes time, sufficient quantities must be stored ahead of any outbreaks so vaccinations can be started immediately.
Many other countries have also stored human bird flu vaccines in anticipation of a sudden outbreak, she said.
SFDA authorized Sinovac to begin commercial production of the vaccine in April 2008 after more than two years of clinical trials, making China the world's second country with the technology and industrial capacity to produce human bird flu vaccine.
China started clinical research and experiments as part of the process of making a vaccine in November 2005, after a domestic outbreak caused huge losses for poultry breeders.
