The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued new guidance to aid manufacturers in developing safe and effective cell-based viral vaccines.

The FDA said in a statement that its goal is to facilitate the development and availability of safe and effective vaccines, including those to address emerging and pandemic threats.

Acting Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach, M.D., Food and Drug, said in the release, "The guidance document released today is a vital part of our overall efforts to help manufacturers develop new vaccines that are critical to meeting global public health needs

Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss says India "intends to eliminate polio from the country by 2007."

However, the country has recently come under fire as international aid groups like the World Health Organization (WHO) say New Delhi has done little to stop a recent polio outbreak that has come to threaten neighboring nations

Health experts warn there has been a global increase of people susceptible to polio because of not being exposed to the disease previously. Unvaccinated and absence of exposure to the virus makes adults most at risk.

Reports say that there are 19 confirmed and 150 suspected polio cases in Namibia. The country had been polio-free since 1995

The fourth-round vaccination campaign of the 13th National Day of Immunization (NDI) will be held in Bangladesh on August 6.

On the day, two drops of polio vaccine will be administered to all children aged zero to five years as an antidote to the deadly disease

Bangladesh has successfully completed three Polio National Immunization Days (NIDs) with 96 percent of children under five being reached through the three rounds.

The NIDs on April 16th, May 13th and June 11th aimed to reach 22 million children under the age of five in a bid to protect them against the possible resurgence of the polio virus