EFN

To certainly no surprise, the race is on for drug makers around the world to create a vaccine to protect people against the swine flu.  The problem is a question of time. How long will it take to get a vaccine to people around the world?

By the time the vaccine can be administered to a population, the first wave of the pandemic will in all likelihood be finished, according to Dr. Iain Stephenson, a consultant in infectious diseases at the Leicester Royal Infirmary and a clinical lecturer at the University of Leicester. His paper was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Stephenson and his team did a study comparing the effect of a single H5 bird flu vaccine dose to those who had been immunized with an H5 vaccine previously with people who hadn’t previously received vaccine.

“This research signifies that we could vaccinate people potentially many years before a pandemic, to generate memory cells that are long lasting and can be rapidly boosted by a single dose of vaccine when needed,” he said.

Switzerland’s Novartis AG (NOVN.VX) stated on Tuesday it had obtained the genetic code of the new virus strain, enabling it to begin work on assessing production, and it hoped to receive the actual virus in its laboratories “in the near future”.

Currently, it is unknown whether there is a vaccine that could stop the spread of the disease, however there are 2.6 million doses of Tamiflu and Relenza antiviral drugs in stock. The U.S. government is also recommending these treatments.