American official says weak bird flu vaccine still useful

Washington: A bird flu vaccine that is even less effective than previously thought could still play an important role in protecting against the increased likelihood of a pandemic, a US government health official said yesterday.

A panel of federal health advisers was weighing whether to recommend government approval of the vaccine, made by Paris-based Sanofi Aventis.

The company believes the benefits of the vaccine outweigh its risks. The Food and Drug Administration said the vaccine is safe but it remains unclear whether it is effective.

Highest dose

In a clinical trial, the two-shot series appears to provide protection to just 45 per cent of adults who received the highest dose. An earlier, interim analysis of the same study had suggested it prompted a protective immune response in 54 per cent of patients, when measured 28 days after getting the second of two shots.

Despite its limited effectiveness, it still could prove better than nothing in an outbreak, said Norman Baylor, director of the vaccine office at the FDA. "The benefit of having a licensed vaccine against a potential pandemic influenza virus strain must be weighed against the risk of having no vaccine at the time of an inevitable influenza pandemic," Baylor told the panel of experts. Baylor also said even a single dose of the two-shot vaccine could help combat the deadly bird-flu strain called H5N1.

The FDA is asking its experts whether Sanofi provided enough data to back approval of its bird flu vaccine or if more are needed.