U.S. Eyes Stretching Flu Vaccine

(CBS/AP)  At the beginning of the year, scientists will begin testing whether they can stretch the nation's limited supply of bird-flu vaccine.

They're hoping to do this by pairing an experimental bird-flu vaccine with an immune-system booster.

The National Institutes of Health's infectious disease chief tells a Senate panel that early research with a different vaccine suggests that approach may work. Doctor Anthony Fauci says preliminary testing in 96 people showed that adding the immune-boosting chemical dramatically lowered the required vaccine dose.

Meanwhile, China reported two new outbreaks of bird flu among chickens in its northeastern province of Liaoning, bringing the total number of reported outbreaks in the past month to six.

A major barrier to stockpiling bird flu vaccine is that it requires two huge doses of the vaccine to produce a protective immune response.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist also said lawmakers should pass legislation by Nov. 24 to fund U.S. preparations for a possible worldwide outbreak of bird flu or some other super-influenza strain.

That timetable has important implications: President Bush has proposed stockpiling enough of the anti-flu drugs Tamiflu and Relenza for 81 million people. The nation has only enough doses for 4.3 million people in stock, and can't order more until Congress approves the money for it, said Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We need it now," she told a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

In related developments:

The World Health Organization on Wednesday estimated that developing vaccines and boosting production of antivirals to fight a flu pandemic will cost about $500 million over the next three to four years. The cost will be in addition to the $1 billion that the World Bank said would be needed to control the current bird flu outbreak and prepare for a possible human pandemic, according to Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO's top official in charge of monitoring bird flu.

Vietnam said Wednesday the Swiss maker of Tamiflu has agreed to let the country produce the antiviral medicine early next year, and a U.N. official said a major funding increase could help stamp out bird flu. The agreement with Roche Holding AG would let Vietnam — which has reported most of the 63 known human deaths from bird flu — start as early as next January, said Nguyen Van Thanh of the Health Ministry's pharmaceutical administration department. Vietnam is believed to be the first country to make such an arrangement.

China's Premier Wen Jiabao warned Wednesday that the country faces a serious threat from bird flu, since the disease is still not under control despite massive nationwide efforts to stop its spread. Wen, touring the bird-flu affected province of Liaoning in northeastern China, said the effort to stop the virulent H5N1 virus from spreading to humans was "an arduous task," the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Romanian authorities have canceled a fishing ban in the Danube Delta after recent tests revealed no further cases of bird flu in the region, the Agriculture Minister said Wednesday. The ban was meant to reduce the number of people coming into the delta region and was imposed last month after several birds tested positive for the H5N1 subtype of avian flu.

In coming days, KFC will have television commercials ready to reassure customers that its chicken is safe to eat if there is a bird flu outbreak. The chicken chain said Tuesday it hopes the spots never have to air, but it's taking no chances in the face of a potential threat to business. "As our investors would hope, we are being proactive in preparing the materials in the event that we need to use them," Jonathan Blum, spokesman for KFC's parent, Yum Brands Inc., said of the spots expected to be shot soon.

The European Union's health commissioner praised Thailand's efforts to combat bird flu during his second stop on a four-nation Southeast Asia tour, Thai officials said Wednesday. Markos Kyprianou's main objective on the tour is discussing the H5N1 bird flu strain, which recently spread to Europe and made a resurgence in Asia, where it has devastated poultry flocks and killed more then five dozen people since late 2003.

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