New flu vaccine uses dog kidney cells

October 14, 2010

The conventional flu vaccine is produced using chicken eggs to grow the virus. It's a slow process that makes it hard to quickly boost production in response to a pandemic.

The newer flu vaccine is produced using dog kidney cells.

Scientists say such cell culture technology is seen as a somewhat faster and more flexible means of vaccine production.

The vaccine, called Optaflu, is already approved in Europe but not in the U.S.

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