Reply #26: Vaccine not made fast enough, U.N. official says

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http://www.suntimes.com/output/health/cst-nws-bird12.html

ROME -- U.N. officials said Tuesday they are exploring ways to step up the production of a vaccine in case bird flu mutates and sparks a human flu pandemic.

David Nabarro, the U.N. coordinator for avian and human influenza, said it will take six months to build up a stockpile of vaccines, but authorities are worried that amount of time might be too long if a pandemic flu strain emerges.

''We will need to have vaccines much more quickly than six months,'' Nabarro said, adding that the World Health Organization and governments are exploring how to ''pull together vaccine manufacturers'' to see if it can be done more quickly.

''The World Health Organization as we speak is looking at options to get a scaling up of vaccine production capacity,'' Nabarro said.