New vaccine formulation methods may cut weeks off production time

New findings suggest a flu vaccine may be able to be effectively manufactured in just half the time. The best part — the vaccine has been found to be just as effective as the existing ones.

Many scientists have been searching for ways to decrease production time of formulating and mass-producing various vaccines.

During the swine flu pandemic throughout 2009, government health officials promised upwards of 160 million flu vaccines but fell extremely short as production was less than 30 million.

The study was published in The Lancet.

Current vaccines are formulated using egg cells from chickens. However, the new method made use of animal cells.

A process that now takes upwards of six months, may take five months or less with these new findings.

Additionally, the animal cell method has been found to be at least 70 percent effective as a flu vaccine.

Experts explain that in any epidemic situation, even days shorter in the production time may save lives.