When you get immunized for the H1N1 swine flu virus this fall, researchers from Saint Louis University will be “deciders” of how the vaccine is administered.
For almost two decades the Center for Vaccine Development at SLU has been one of only eight Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units funded by the National Institutes of Health for clinical trials on new vaccines.
This year, in addition to testing the normal seasonal flu vaccine, they will be participating in an intense, accelerated clinical research effort aimed at containing the present pandemic. Cases of H1N1 infection may peak as early as October, so the dosage schedule must be standardized well before then.
“Companies know how to make influenza vaccines,” stated Dr. Robert Belshe, Director of the School of Medicine’s division of Infectious Diseases and the Center for Vaccine Development. “The problem is knowing how much viral antigen protein to put into the shots.”
Read the entire article (750KB PDF).
This article was originally published in the St. Louis Beacon.