Development of live, attenuated hepatitis A vaccine (H2-strain).

Hepatitis A, with high prevalence and high incidence, is one of the most serious infectious diseases in China. A programme aiming at developing a vaccine against hepatitis A has been in progress since 1980. The H2-strain vaccine that had been selected and studied in our laboratory was proven to be attenuated for human beings and has been proven to be effective in preventing hepatitis A. In the near future, the live, attenuated H2-strain vaccine derived from tissue culture will be available in China.