Japan plans first large-scale H5N1 vaccination program

Hey VIP! Thought all of you bird-flu enthusiasts would find this article from the BBC interesting...

Apparently Japan has just announced its plan to vaccinate around 6,000 health care professionals with H5N1 stockpiled vaccines. Officials report that the purpose of this first large-scale vaccination is to test the efficacy and side effects of the vaccine. This represents a governmental policy change, as Japan has stockpiled 10 million doses of the vaccine and in the past only planned on using the vaccine in case of a break-out.

Check out the article here.

Of course, there's no telling if the vaccine would be at all effective considering that if an avian flu pandemic were to hit Japan, it's likely that the newly arisen strain of virus may not be protected for by the current H5N1 vaccine.

Lauren

Lauren