Swine flu vaccine in four to seven months

New Delhi: India is at the forefront of developing a swine flu vaccine that will be available in "four to seven months", the government announced Friday as 96 new infections were reported.

Speaking to reporters here Friday, union Health Secretary Naresh Dayal said: "The process has been already set in motion and India is at the forefront of developing a vaccine."

"But the vaccine will be available by four to seven months from now," he added.
There is no known vaccine so far to tackle the virus that has infected over 700 people in the country so far.

Dayal said the World Health Organisation had given the "seed stock" of the influenza A (H1N1) virus to India.

The seed stock is the cultured virus, which has the highest vaccine immunity and is commonly present in majority of the affected cases. If the vaccine is developed from the seed virus then it is likely to be effective for other strains.

In India, three pharmaceutical companies - Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech and Panacea Biotech - are working on developing the vaccine.

The WHO is already collaborating with the Serum Institute of India for developing a seasonal flu vaccine.

Dayal said Serum Institute of India has made a lot of progress and started animal testing of the vaccine.

No need to panic over swine flu: Govt

As panic gripped people in the metros over swine flu and a record 96 new cases came up, the Indian government Friday assured that it was equipped to tackle the virus that has killed one and infected over 700 people so far in the country.

The government also announced a slew of steps to tackle the fast-spreading flu, including decentralising the drug supply and allowing accredited private laboratories to conduct the tests.
Union Health Secretary Naresh Dayal said the government is decentralising the availability of the Tamiflu drug in the country so that there is no paucity and is ready to allow accredited private laboratories to conduct the test to detect the virus provided they have the facilities.

"A lot of panic has been created in the last two days, especially since the death of the girl in Pune. There is no cause for people to go into panic mode," Dayal told a press conference here.
Rida Shaikh, 14, died in Pune Monday of swine flu, and health officials blamed the death to "delayed treatment".