The AP/Google examines the plan by the European Medicines Agency, to accelerate the approval process for swine flu vaccine - leading some "countries such as Britain, Greece, France and Sweden [to] start using the vaccine after it's greenlighted - possibly within weeks." Though "[f]lu vaccines have been used for 40 years, and many experts say extensive testing is unnecessary, since the swine flu vaccine will simply contain a new ingredient: the swine flu virus European officials won't know if the new vaccine causes any rare side effects until millions of people get the shots. Still, they say the benefit of saving lives is worth the gamble," the news service writes. The article includes statements by Fukada about the potential risks of untested vaccines (Cheng, 7/26).

Additional Swine Flu News

Irrawaddy examines how H1N1 has led to a growing demand and soaring prices for antivirals in Rangoon, Myanmar (Wine, 7/24).

IOL examines recent discussions in South Africa about how the country can ramp up its vaccine production capabilities (Peters, 7/26).

"Peru's government has extended midyear school vacations by one week amid a growing outbreak of the H1N1 flu," Dow Jones Newswires/Wall Street Journal reports (Josephs, 7/24).

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