Hungarian trial vaccine ‘works well’

HUNGARIAN officials announced yesterday that preliminary experiments with an H5N1 vaccine indicate it works.

Health Minister Jenoe Racz said he and dozens of others were inoculated three weeks ago and that tests showed that antibodies to the virus had appeared in his blood.

“The results are preliminary, but I can say with 99.9% certainty that the vaccine works,” he said in Budapest.

However, the WHO said it was unaware of the details of the Hungarian findings and was unable to comment on their validity.

Scientists in the US already have reported positive results from tests on their own H5N1 vaccine, but so far have not been able to make the vaccine a practical option.

Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson said the British government planned to vaccinate the entire population once a potentially fatal strain emerges.