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Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 2007;297:1182.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Experts meeting last month at the World Health Organization (WHO) reported "encouraging progress" in efforts to develop pandemic influenza vaccines to protect against H5N1 avian influenza virus and other bird flu viruses (http://www.who.int/hiv/mediacentre/news/65/en/).

Sixteen manufacturers from 10 countries are developing prototype vaccines against H5N1 avian influenza virus; five of these companies are also working to develop vaccines against other strains. More than 40 clinical trials, mostly in healthy adults, are under way or have been completed.

"For the first time, results presented at the meeting have convincingly demonstrated that vaccination with newly developed avian influenza vaccines can bring about a potentially protective immune response against strains of H5N1 virus found in a variety of geographical locations," the WHO said in a statement. "Some of the vaccines work with low doses of antigen, which means that significantly more vaccine doses can be available in case of . . . [Full Text of this Article]