Beijing first to test Sars vaccine on humans

Beijing (AsiaNews/SCMP) – Several scientists have started testing a Sars vaccine on four university students who are part of a group of 36 volunteers.

At Sino-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, the students – three male and one female – were injected a vaccine containing a dead sample of the virus that causes Sars, in order to strengthen the immune system and improve a person's capacity to fight a live strain.

The vaccine, jointly developed by the Ministry of Science and Technology and Sinovach Biotech – a Beijing-based company - had proven effective when tested on Rhesus monkeys.

Despite the Chinese optimism, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said a safe and effective vaccine would not reach the market for another year or two. WHO spokesman Roy Wadia said the UN agency was not monitoring the vaccine-development programme but had offered some recommendations to Beijing, particularly concerned about laboratory safety.  

In the last months, there was a risk of a new Sars epidemic, after an outbreak in some laboratories in Beijing, which conducted research into the virus. (MR)

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