FDA Advisers Back Second-Generation Smallpox Vaccine

Thursday, May 17th 2007, 10:09 pm

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Government advisers have given support for a second-generation smallpox vaccine, calling it safe enough to be used if the virtually extinct virus ever reappears.

The vaccine maker has already provided more than $192 million doses of the experimental vaccine to a U.S. stockpile. But future production may depend in part on whether the Food and Drug Administration formally approves the shots. The company failed to win a further government contract last fall.

Today, an FDA advisory committee voted unanimously that the vaccine works and is safe enough to use in special situations where people are deemed at high risk of smallpox exposure.

The FDA isn't bound by its advisers' recommendations, but usually follows them.