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The first experimental bird flu vaccine made from lab-grown cells instead of chicken eggs shows promise in blocking the highly lethal virus, scientists report.

The advance is good news not just for preparations in case of a pandemic, but also because it offers a way to make shots for seasonal flu much faster. That gives health officials crucial extra time to better match annual shots to the flu strains circulating...

The original article can be found at: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080612/bird_flu_vaccine_080612/20080612?hub=Health&s_name=

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what we said (Hover the mouse cursor over underlined words for more info)

While this new vaccine is considered an asset to our preparation for a potential bird flu pandemic, its recent discovery makes it difficult to report on both treatment cost and availability.

After reading this story, readers are left to question how the new cell-based vaccine ranks again the older egg-based one. While the article does compare the production costs between these two treatments, there is no evidence-based comparison of the vaccine efficacies. Although the article includes expert opinions saying that Baxter's vaccine works better than egg-based ones, there is no evidence included to support this claim.

The article was very clear in stating that the cell-based vaccine would only protect 76% of people from two strains of the bird flu and 45% of people from a third strain. But what about any adverse effects? While it may be that this information is not available yet, readers can not be sure whether this novel treatment is associated with any known and potentially serious side effects.

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