AUSTRALIAN HEALTH MINISTER CUTS SUPPLY OF ANTI-FLU DRUGS FOR NON-PANDEMIC INFECTIONS

AUSTRALIAN SCIENTISTS CLAIM SUCCESS WITH BIRD FLU VACCINE

800 CHILDREN TO BE EXPOSED IN NEW TRIALS

The Australian health minister, Tony Abbott said the anti-flu drugs Tamiflu and Relenza will no longer be available to the public to treat seasonal influenza outbreaks.

Stocks of these drugs in Australia are now being stockpiled by the government "for a possible pandemic outbreak".

In recent clinical trials, 400 volunteers from Melbourne and Adelaide were injected with an experimental bird flu vaccine twice, three weeks apart.

While the vaccine may prove effective in stopping birds from infecting humans with the deadly virus, it provides no certainty of halting a human avian influenza pandemic.

"The vaccine is based on the animal-to-human form of the virus. As a pandemic requires a human-to-human virus, the effectiveness of the vaccine in such a situation is uncertain."

The prototype vaccine might not protect Australians from a pandemic, claimed a professor, "we don't know for sure".

A second trial is now planned where some 800 children will be exposed to the experimental vaccine. The young and elderly will need much stronger doses than those first tested, the initial trials have revealed, raising concerns about side effects from the experiments, particularly when so many young children will be exposed to the avian influenza virus during the clinical trials.

The vaccine manufacturer said production capabilities at its plant will be doubled "to meet demand", claiming 40 million doses of vaccine (the amount the company estimates will be needed to cover the Australian population), could be turned out in only three months.