Monday, July 27, 2009

Hundreds volunteer for SLU swine flu vaccine study

St. Louis Business Journal
July 24, 2009

Saint Louis University has received 500 calls from people interested in volunteering to try a new swine flu vaccine.

“We haven’t gotten this many calls on a study since our smallpox vaccine research post-Sept. 11,” said Nancy Solomon, a university spokeswoman.

SLU’s Center for Vaccine Development is among eight sites picked to help develop a vaccine for swine flu, officially called H1N1 influenza.

The government wants several thousand volunteers nationwide to test the flu shots.

Last year SLU received a $23.7 million contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, to serve as a Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit. SLU has been funded as a VTEU since 1989.

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