TORONTO - The world's largest flu vaccine manufacturer says it has received the starting material needed to make swine flu vaccine.
Sanofi pasteur of Swiftwater, Pa., says it has taken possession of the so-called seed strain needed to start production of vaccine to protect against the new H1N1 virus.
Sanofi is one of several companies contracted by the U.S. government to make enough H1N1 vaccine to protect 20 million Americans.
The company will now need to start working with the seed strain, figuring out how to coax it to grow to high yield in eggs.
A release from the company says that process, called passaging, takes about two weeks, after which Sanofi can make batches of vaccine for clinical trials.
Earlier this week, officials of the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said they'll wait till the last minute to make decisions on H1N1 vaccine, hoping to see how the virus acts in the Southern Hemisphere winter.
