Chinese researchers are about to begin a human clinical trial of a new severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) vaccine developed in that country, according to a high-ranking government official quoted in a Chinese newspaper. The trial would put them at least 5 to 8 months ahead of scientists in other countries attempting to create their own SARS vaccines, but the head of China's food and drug administration said that testing and manufacturing their vaccine will “take time.” Another official at the agency told the newspaper last month that it would take years.
According to a report earlier this week (January 19) in China Daily, Li Xueyong, the Chinese vice minister of science and technology, announced that 30 volunteers will soon be inoculated with the vaccine, created over the past 9 months and recently approved by China's food and drug administration. The vaccine is made of inactivated virus.
The small trial ...
