Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Australian farmers supply eggs for A/H1N1 flu vaccine

2009-06-10 16:49:24

CANBERRA, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Australian farmers are supplying 300,000 eggs a day to biotech company CSL for production of the A/H1N1 flu vaccine.

"We're making a test batch at the moment that we can put into our clinical trial process," CSL spokeswoman Rachel David said on Wednesday.

The company needs the eggs to conduct clinical trials that are expected to take three months to complete.

"Once that's taken place, and it's due to start in July, then we can start to scale up manufacturing to make larger amounts," she said.

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Australia has been the best prepared country in the world to deal with the threat of A/H1N1 flu.

The number of A/H1N1 flu cases in the country has topped 1,000, with the majority reported in Victoria.

Rudd said that since the flu first hit Australia last month, the government had acted on the best possible advice from health experts.

"We currently have some 10.3 million doses available ... and because of the early action our government has taken we've made sure we're properly provisioned," he said.

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