First there's this kind of news (no vaccine, or a vaccine can take from 3 to 6 months to prepare), like this:
Vaccine production a slow process
LEE BOWMAN, Scripps Howard News Service - Tuesday, April 28, 2009
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/ap...-slow-process/
"... It takes some 900 million eggs to make 300 million doses of the annual flu shot, or for that much vaccine against a new strain. It's a slow and sometimes difficult process, with the potential for contamination or for egg shortages to interfere. And it's not yet known how well the new virus grows inside eggs.
"There are several alternatives to egg-based vaccines in the works. Most advanced is cell-based vaccine production, which utilizes lab-grown cell lines, often from kidneys, that are used to host a growing virus. The virus is injected into the cell, where it multiplies. Then the cell's outer wall is removed and the virus harvested, purified and inactivated before being put into serum."
And it's also a cell-not-egg technology success story!
Swine flu: Baxter seeks swine flu sample to begin work on vaccine
Deerfield-based Baxter has a speedier way to make vaccines than old method
By Bruce Japsen | Tribune reporter - 3:34 PM CDT, April 27, 2009
http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,3579388.story
"Baxter confirmed over the weekend that it is working with the World Health Organization on a potential vaccine to curb the deadly swine flu virus that is blamed for scores of deaths in Mexico and has emerged as a threat in the U.S. Shares of Baxter were up 2.4 percent, or $1.16, to $49.23 a share in trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.
"... Baxter has a cell-based technology that allows the company to produce vaccines more rapidly in the event of a pandemic than a decades-old method that uses eggs and can take weeks or months longer. Although the egg-based method has produced safe and effective vaccines, analysts say Baxter's method can cut production times in half compared with the older process."
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Also:
Swine flu prompts California 'state of emergency'
28 Apr 2009 18:12:58 GMT - Source: Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N28344841.htm
LOS ANGELES, April 28 (Reuters) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday declared a "state of emergency" for the state over an outbreak of the swine flu that has killed 149 people in Mexico.
So far state and local officials have confirmed 13 cases of the swine flu in California. None has been fatal, although Los Angeles County Coroner's officials were investigating two deaths as possibly related to the disease.
Schwarzenegger's proclamation allows the state to deploy additional resources to the Department of Public Health and more quickly and easily purchase equipment and materials.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared a federal public health emergency on Sunday. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb, editing by Patricia Zengerle)