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Forum: China Getting Ready

24 September 2006

Torange – at 18:17

It seems that China is getting the people prepared for the bf this winter. The Chinese media seems to be on the same page. Examples here, here, and here

Gary Near Death Valley – at 18:19

Gee too bad that our media does not at least give out the same message……..

Pixie – at 18:32

Well, this little tidbit from The People’s Daily is a bit too reasurring and sounds too much like our own media:

“”Currently, all human cases of bird flu have been infected by sick birds. There is no evidence to suggest that the virus can be passed from person to person, according to World Health Organization (WHO).”“

Blue – at 18:35
 They’re all the same story!
Torange – at 18:51

There is no free press in China. Editors are agents of the government. There are also some unusual statements in the articles. Curevents is discussing how some of the information is being parsed.

Torange – at 18:54

here

Ruth – at 20:42

Very interesting reading. I wonder what is really going on in China.

Anon_451 – at 21:14

Torange – at 18:51 (Read the discussion on Curevents) So the Chinese are producing 25 Million doses of a vaccine for a Pandemic that does not yet exist. More importantly that is the amount that they can produce at Maximum production over one year. Yeah China is getting ready and in one big hurry, and it sounds like they either know what the PanFlu virus will look like or they are guessing and hoping that what they are producing will provide some protection.

Snowhound1 – at 21:21

Anon_451, my understanding from reading the article about China producing vaccine this year was for the normal flu season….it just happens to mention “bird flu” in the same article so it is a little confusing. I think this was addressed in Friday’s or yesterday’s news thread.

AnnieBat 21:32

Have I totally misunderstood the story about flu vaccines in China - my reading is that they are talking about the ‘usual’ flu vaccine - not an H5N1 specific vaccine. Here is the extract from the news story:

“Vaccines Prepared for Possible Flu Outbreaks

Chinese health officials are preparing 23 million to 25 million doses of flu vaccine, after experts warned the H5N1 bird flu could break out again with other flu strains during winter and spring.

The vaccines would be available from mid September, when an inoculation campaign began, said a statement by the China Preventive Medicine Association. The quantity of doses is 20 percent more than last year.”

The only reference to H5N1 is to say it could break out at the same time as other flu strains. At no stage do the stories purport to the vaccine being offered containing coverage for H5N1. (The story does later mention the trials that have been under way for a human H5N1 vaccine.)

Anon_451 – at 21:46

Snowhound1 – at 21:21 AnnieB – at 21:32

This is the story that I was picking up on in CurEvents.

China to mass produce (human) bird flu vaccine Source: China Daily/Xinhua - Updated: 2006–08–30 14:37

A Chinese vaccine developer announced on Tuesday it will expand production facilities to produce massive quantities of human bird flu vaccine once the drug passes two more rounds of clinical trials.

After the expansion, which is expected to take six months, the company will increase its annual production from 8 million vaccines to 20 million, according to Beijing Sinovac Biotech Co., a Beijing-based pharmaceutical company. The company developed the human bird flu vaccine together with China’s Ministry of Science and Technology, and China Disease Control and Prevention Center.

Preliminary clinical tests have shown that the vaccine is safe and effective for human use, researchers said.

“These results indicate that we should expand our production capabilities to prepare for mass production of the vaccine against a possible bird flu pandemic,” the company’s spokesman said.

Results from the first-phase trails, which ended in June, showed the 120 people who were vaccinated had no serious adverse reactions.

In China, a vaccine is allowed to enter the market after it completes three phases of clinical trials.

Bird flu remains essentially an animal disease, but experts fear that the H5N1 virus could mutate into a form that could pass easily among humans.

Worldwide, about a dozen companies are conducting clinical trials on bird flu vaccines.

According to the World Health Organization, the H5N1 virus has proven difficult to predict, and as drug companies move forward with their pandemic vaccine development, they may be gambling on which virus they think is most likely to mutate into a killer strain.

The virus has killed 14 people in China since 2003 and 21 Chinese have contracted the virus.

The latest case involved a 62-year-old man in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, who died on July 12.

banshee – at 21:48

Snowhound and AnnieB, I also took that article to mean that the Chinese were stepping up seasonal influenza inoculations to try and prevent reassortment with H5N1 in the upcoming flu season. It is something they are worried about. However, the Chinese DO have a human H5N1 vaccine. I don’t know how many doses or which strain(s) they have based it on. It is interesting that the Chinese media (which is controlled by the government) has been linking H5N1 and seasonal flu in recent articles. Also, this week there have been several Chinese articles warning about a possible resurgence of H5N1 in China. Kind of echos the WHO statement from earlier this year - they predicted a significant uptick in cases for this fall/winter which is flu season in the Northern Hemisphere. Finally, don’t forget that the english language articles cited are aimed at us and not at Chinese citizens. Ponder that for awhile…

21 November 2006

Closed - Bronco Bill – at 13:46

Closed to Increase Forum speed

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