Vaccine maker questions Bush flu plan

MERIDEN, Conn., Nov. 2 (UPI) -- A Connecticut vaccine maker is questioning President George Bush's flu plan that calls for cell-culture vaccines, but no funding for the research.

One of the keys to the $7.1 billion plan announced Tuesday is to break away from traditional, time-consuming egg-based vaccines, and toward the creation of a new generation of vaccines cultured in cells -- which can be made rapidly to combat dangerous new strains such as the avian flu.

The Department of Health and Human Services has funded only one cell-based flu vaccine -- $97 million for a vaccine that has not yet been tested in animals or humans, the Hartford (Conn.) Courant reported.

That perplexes Dan Adams, president and chief executive officer of Protein Sciences in Meriden.

"I don't know what the hell they are thinking about," Adams said.

Adams said his company could produce 18 million cell-based doses a week to combat a pandemic flu, and questioned the wisdom of relying on chickens as a vaccine source.

"Avian flu kills the chickens that lay the eggs," Adams said.