Two of 24 influenza volunteers react to locally-made vaccine

BANGKOK, Dec 20 (TNA) — Two of 24 Thai volunteers to use the locally-made nasal spray vaccine in trials on the Influenza A (H1N1), conducted for the first time in the kingdom, have reacted to the vaccine, Dr. Vichai Chokewiwat, chairman of the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO), on Sunday.

The human trials began Friday, and two of the overall 24 volunteers have already reacted by showing that they suffered from sore throat and swollen noses, said Dr. Vichai. Both had nasal discharges but no fever which showed that their bodies reacted to the vaccine.

In order to ascertain that the volunteers’ bodies are immune to the deadly disease, doctors will have to wait for blood test results which will be obtained three weeks after the vaccine was administered, he said.

Dr. Vichai said medical personnel on Monday will check inside the noses of all 24 volunteers, clean them with water and then conduct tests on the water whether it contained any virus from the vaccine. If the virus is found, then it could be proven that the trials were successful.

The morale of the 24 volunteers, now staying at Mahidol University’s Faculty of Tropical Medicine, is high and they will be allowed to return home one week after the trial, he said.

Health officials will follow up the volunteers’ health and results of the vaccines for another three weeks before they are given second doses of vaccine.

Evaluations of the test will be done one month after the volunteers are given second doses it will then be decided whether the next step of the vaccine trial will be conducted using the second batch of 400 volunteers. Dr. Vichai has said that if the nasal spray vaccine trial has no obstacle, the vaccines will be ready for use in February at the soonest.

The clinical tests are designed to evaluate the safety of the nasal spray vaccines manufactured by the GPO as well as to check the level of immunity against the virus.

According to the vaccination programme, the 12 volunteers have been given a low concentration of the vaccine — 6.5 log (the amount of the virus per cubic centimetre) — while others have received higher concentration of 7-7.5 log. (TNA)