Miami one of a few cities testing swine flu vaccine

MIAMI (WSVN) -- Clinical trials of a swine flu vaccine could bring us one step closer to stopping the sickness from spreading, and Miami is one of five U.S. cities where this particular vaccine is undergoing human trials.

Swine flu remains a concern as the start of the school year and cooler temperatures approach. Now, doctors at Miami Research Associates in Miami are doing their part to get the pandemic under wraps. "We need as much vaccine as we can get," said Dr. Eric Sheldon. "We're in the midst of a pandemic, and clearly it's a race to develop as much vaccine as possible."

For that reason, it's a race against the clock to find the best vaccine. Miami is among five cities conducting clinical trials on the Medimune vaccine.

Miami Research Associates have rounded up volunteers willing to test the vaccine. Some will get saline, while others will get the actual vaccine.

Researchers will watch the volunteers for about eight weeks to see how they react. "We follow them throughout the period of study to make sure they don't have any bad side effects, and we also monitor blood immune response," said Sheldon.

It's too early to determine which vaccine works best, but whichever vaccine fights the swine flu the strongest will first have to be FDA-approved.

Health officials though, have delayed the vaccine's release over fear there won't be enough to go around. Kids, the elderly, pregnant women and health care workers will get first dibs on the vaccine.

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