Yet, the folks at the National Institutes of Health are still planning to go through with a study starting today on an immune-boosting substance known as adjuvant that could be added to the vaccine. Using an adjuvant would mean giving the shot in smaller doses, further stretching supply.
It's unlikely it will be needed this fall, especially if further tests show that one standard shot is good enough to protect people from the virus. But using adjuvant could prove helpful in future years, or if the flu took a turn for the worst, said Dr. Wilbur Chen, a vaccinologist at the University of Maryland's Center for Vaccine Development, who is leading the NIH-sponsored tests.
The trials are start here in Baltimore on adults and elderly with an experimental adjuvant manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline. Chen thinks the adjuvant, essentially an oil-and-water mixture added to the vaccine -- could be particularly helpful in strengtheninng the response in the elderly, since flu vaccines work less well in older people.
Thing is, adjuvant is added to seasonal flu shots in Europe, but it's never been licensed here in the states. Using it here would require emergency declaration by the Food and Drug Administration. That's enough to make some people worried.
The web is crawling with people who think adjuvants are unsafe and others who worry that the government is moving just a little too quickly on swine flu vaccine development.
Chen thinks that some of the reluctance comes from conspiracy theorists who simply distrust vaccines, no matter what science says.
"Flu vaccines are among the most well-studied vaccines in human history," he said. "I don't think I can come up with an argument that will change the opinions of these people, no matter how much data is out there."
AP photo
