Potential H7N9 bird flu vaccine shows promise

An early trial of a bird flu vaccine suggests that the treatment could be used to counter the H7N9 virus.

Courtesy of Cynthia S. Goldsmith and Thomas Rowe/CDC

Two doses of a newly developed H7N9 bird flu vaccine seem to trigger a safe, effective immune response in humans. The results of the early-stage vaccine trial suggest that the preventive treatment should be developed further and that scientists are a step closer to being able to counter a potential H7N9 flu pandemic using a clinically tested vaccine, researchers argue April 30 in Science Translational Medicine.

Ashley Yeager is the associate news editor at Science News. She has worked at The Scientist, the Simons Foundation, Duke University and the W.M. Keck Observatory, and was the web producer for Science News from 2013 to 2015. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a master’s degree in science writing from MIT.

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