Source: NewsObserver
Pharmaceutical giant Novartis on Monday declared its $1 billion vaccine production plant, the first such facility of its kind, ready to inoculate Americans against the next global pandemic outbreak. Gleaming in the outskirts of this small community, the sprawling laboratory is more than four years in the making. It is designed to supply emergency vaccine to one in every four U.S. residents during a pandemic, an event so unusual that only four have swept the globe in the past century, most recently in 2009.The facility produced its first three batches of pandemic flu vaccine Friday, about 6.5 million doses of the watery-looking stuff in pre-dosed glass vials ready for injection, all designated for the U.S. emergency stockpile.
Read More: Novartis plant preparing for next pandemic
Cartoon by Bob Moran
