In the event of an avian influenza pandemic, doctors may have to collect and pool antibodies from the blood of survivors to treat the seriously ill, says a House of Lords science and technology committee report. Such “passive immunisation” might also slow the spread of infection while the world waits anxiously for a pandemic vaccine, said Lord May, a committee member and former government chief scientific adviser, at the launch of the report on 15 December.

But prompt use of this makeshift vaccination would require ministers to relax the rules on blood products designed to protect the public …