Russia may have first peroral H5N1 bird flu vaccine by yearend

According to RIA Novosti, Eduard Dzhavadov, the director of St. Petersburg's Veterinary Institute of Poultry Breeding, said the vaccine being developed by his organization and the Influenza Research Institute is to be administered with food and water rather than intravenously.

"The Influenza Institute is working directly with the H5N1 virus. In July, we expect them to provide us with a strain on whose basis our institute will be developing the vaccine," Dzhavadov said.

He said peroral vaccines took much less time to administer than those intended for intramuscular injection, meaning a large poultry farm could be immunized within just half an hour.

Russia started a mass vaccination campaign of domestic fowl in March. More than a million birds have died of bird flu since the latest wave of the virus hit the country in February.