Bird flu vaccine for humans promising. New research shows a bird flu vaccine for humans is safe and appears to work — but requires a dose up to 12 times larger than a regular flu shot and is effective only about half the time. [News Source]

Small dose of hope in bird flu fight. Tests of an experimental vaccine on healthy adults indicates it can provide protection in case of an outbreak, but only to half of those who have been vaccinated with very high doses. [News Source]

Bird flu vaccine only works at highest dose. An experimental vaccine against H5N1 bird flu only appears to work at the very highest doses, meaning it will be harder than feared to protect the population against a pandemic. [News Source]

Bird flu risk between disaster and exaggeration. Avian flu is being portrayed either as a looming disaster, or as a chicken-little exaggeration. [News Source]

Cancer funding faces $40 million cut. Facing the deepest cut in federal research funding in a generation, cancer scientists and their supporters are mounting a last-minute lobbying push in Congress to reverse President Bush's proposed $40 million reduction. [News Source]

Doubt cast on stockpile of a vaccine for bird flu. A bird flu vaccine being stockpiled by the government in preparation for a possible pandemic protects only about half the people who receive it, scientists are reporting. [News Source]

Early testing shows U.S. bird flu vaccine modestly effective. The nation's first vaccine against bird flu is only modestly effective, producing apparent protection in slightly more than half the people who receive two mega-dose shots. [News Source]

Avian flu vaccine produces limited success. Researchers claimed only partial success Thursday in the largest human trial of an avian flu vaccine. [News Source]

Avian flu vaccine falls short in trial. Setting back plans to shield the nation from a potential bird flu pandemic, the first study of a human vaccine showed that even a massive dose failed to protect nearly half of those inoculated. [News Source]

Country remains bird flu-free zone says minister. Lebanon "remains free of the killer H5N1 bird flu epidemic" rapidly spreading across the globe, according to Agriculture Minister Talal Sahili. [News Source]

Norway PM feeds own kids salmon banned by Russia. Saying he often fed salmon to his own children, Norway's prime minister expressed hopes on Wednesday Russia would resume imports of fresh Norwegian fish which Moscow banned due to worries about toxic metals. [News Source]