China permits human trials of SARS vaccine

cctv.com 01-20-2004 09:28

China is set to become the first country in the world to carry out human tests of an experimental vaccine for severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS). The Food and Drug Administration today approved the plan to inject the dead virus into volunteers.

Researchers around the world are seeking SARS vaccines and the World Health Organization has said a vaccine is probably more than two years away.

But China has been making surprisingly rapid progress towards preventing the deadly illness.

According to Zheng Xiaoyu, director of State Food and Drug Administration, "After careful studies, the State Food and Drug Administration has decided to let the trials of the SARS vaccine proceed in order to test its safety and effectiveness. Then we will consider further research on the basis of the results."

The first group of volunteers for the initial trials include 30 people. Officials say purified samples of the dead SARS virus will be used in the vaccine to protect the volunteers.

China has already produced about 14,000 shots of the vaccine and another 20,000 will be packaged and inspected by quality control experts.

But officials warn despite the progress it is still difficult to predict when the vaccine will be available. This is because the leap from experiments in animals to humans are fraught with unexpected risks, despite extensive testing in animals.

Editor:Xiao  Source:CCTV.com