The Liverpool vaccine factory preparing for a H5N1 bird flu pandemic – The Telegraph

The UK division of CSLS is Britains biggest end-to-end vaccine manufacturer by some margin. Its main business revolves around manufacturing the jabs which protect against seasonal flu, its products being used throughout the NHS and across Europe.

Its a tricky job, a primary skill being in matching the annual jab with the anticipated seasonal flu strain some six months ahead of its actual arrival. If youve seen one flu season, youve seen one flu season, says Mr Hilton, quoting an industry axiom.

The Liverpool plant makes all its vaccines in the old fashioned way - by growing the virus in fertilised chicken eggs before deactivating it for use in vaccines. The company has the capacity to take delivery of 575,000 eggs a day - enough to make 40 litres of a single strain of vaccine over an incubation period of 13-14 days.

The eggs are of a very different categorisation to those found in the supermarket. They come from 21 specialist bio-secure hatcheries in which the chickens and their eggs are kept protected from any bugs that could be passed on. They may not be free range but they are pathogen free, says Mr Hilton.

We spend a lot of time and effort to make sure we are ready to spring [into action] if there is a pandemic - just the strain of the virus needs to be plugged in.

Go here to see the original:

The Liverpool vaccine factory preparing for a H5N1 bird flu pandemic - The Telegraph