If the bird flu that last week flew from Asia to Europe mutates into a form that moves easily from human to human, historians will say of the 21st century’s first pandemic: They knew what was coming. Public-health officials have known for four years that the avian virus—H5N1—is a nasty one that might jump to human-to-human transmission. Alas, forewarned doesn’t mean forearmed. Clinical testing under way suggests we’ll soon have a viable vaccine. But neither governments nor private vaccine-makers have a way to produce vaccines fast enough to prevent or contain an outbreak. (Slate.com)
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