NEW SWINE FLU VACCINE New Swine Flu Vaccine heads Straight For Controversy   A new vaccine being fast tracked for the treatment of swine flu has run into controversy with the World heath Organisation. Treatment with the vaccine is going to be available in Europe 2 months earlier than the US and Britain is expected to be the first European country to obtain the vaccine. 132 million doses have been ordered and doctors intend to start administering the drug next month. Approval for the frug is being fast tracked by The European Medicines Agency, and not only Britain but also Greece, France and Sweden will start using it immediately it is cleared. Priority will be given to young children and ladies who are pregnant. The EMA are allowing the drug to by-pass mass human trials The protocol used by the EMA to fast track the drug was first brought into force during the bird flu scare. The EMA will approve the drug based on bird flu vaccine data as many of the drugs ingredients will be the same. Normally effects of the drug would be monitored before its issue but the data will now be collected as the drug is issued. The reason that the US will not have the drug available until well after Europe is because the US government are being more acutious. They will require several thousand volunteers to be injected with the drug first to rest its side effects , which means that the new drug will not be available to US patients until at least October. Europe believes their option is by far the best. leonard Marcus has said that "The consequences of not having a vaccine if this virus gets worse are very high," Mr Marcus is a public health expert at Harvard University. He also said that "If [regulatory authorities] took all the time that was necessary to make sure there are no side effects, ironically, in the effort to save a few lives, many lives could be lost." An EMA spokesman said that although the situation is far from ideal, everyone is doing their best and we need to ensure that plenty of vaccine is available ready for the winter flu season The World Health Organisation however are warning about the potential dangers of vaccines which are untested. The Department of Health in the UK have however stated it was "extremely irresponsible" suggesting that the UK would use an unsafe vaccine. They say that whilst preparing for a pandemic trials to assess safety and the immune responses have been conducted on vaccines similar to the swine flu vaccine. These vaccines have thus been proven to have a good safety profile. Over 40,000 doses of the vaccines on which this new vaccine is based have been given without any safety concerns." Dr Margaret Chan the head of the WHO, earlier this month stated that whilst this vaccine might be produced next month the clinical trial data required ensuring its safety would be unavailable for possibly 3 months. The vaccine is being produced for Britain by  GlaxoSmithKline and they say that they will be able to produce and ship the vaccine well before then. Also at present a big storm has broken out with the House of Lords science and technology committee accusing ministers of failing to keep their promise and set up a flu helpline by April this year and to also bring into question the conflicting advice given to the British public, especially vulnerable groups such as pregnant mothers.                       Information here supplied in relation to Swine Flu Vaccine | New Vaccine For Swine Flu copyright askabouthealth 2006 - Swine Flu Vaccine