After acquiring any prevalent virus strain, researchers can now develop the appropriate vaccine strain within two months, shortening greatly the time spent in vaccine production, according to the CDC.
CDC Deputy Director-General Shih Wen-yi said researchers found in previous attempts that the conventional vaccine development technique -- using chicken embryos as the virus reproduction medium -- was useless in the case of the bird flu virus, because the virulence is so strong that the embryos died before enough viruses could be gathered.
They later turned to reverse genetics, cultivating viruses in vitro from the virus strains acquired from infected birds or humans, he went on.
As for vaccine production capacity, Shih said the National Health Research Institute has already established a vaccine quick production facility that can produce 100,000 doses per year.
He also noted that the nationwide production capacity will be expanded further after the CDC finishes negotiations with the Dutch-based pharmaceutical company Akzo Nobel.
