Early clinical trials are showing that the H1F1 flu vaccine is working with just one shot or dose, instead of two, The New York Times reported -- and that means vaccine supplies will go twice as far as predicted.

The significance? If the one-shot treatment holds, that means it should be possible to vaccinate all 159 million people in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's high risk groups: pregnant women, people under age 24 or caring for infants, people with high-risk medical conditions, and health care workers.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Popular (BPOP), MRU Holdings (UNCL), CDC Corp (CHINA) and Oscient Pharmaceuticals (OSCI) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Kaufman initiated Popular (NASDAQ: BPOP) with a Hold rating and $13 target, citing the company's direct exposure to nearly $2B of Alt A residential mortgage loans originated by its U.S. operations and approximately $250M of exposure to another $4B of collateralized, securitized mortgage pools.

• MRU Holdings (NADSAQ: UNCL) was initiated with a Buy rating and $8.50 target at Roth Capital. Roth Capital believes MRU Holdings is on the threshold of potentially explosive growth in the fast growing segment of the education lending market, that of private loans.

• JMP Securities said CDC Corp. (NASDAQ: CHINA) , with its resources and connections in China, has excellent deal flow and has been a disciplined, value oriented buyer, and started shares with a Market Outperform and $10.50 target.

• Piper believes Oscient Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: OSCI) experienced management team and PCP sales force are competitive advantages and will lead to attractive partners. Piper initiated Oscient Pharmaceuticals with an Outperform rating and $5 target...

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Raymond James started SAIC (NYSE: SAI) with a Market Perform rating.

• Morgan Keegan initiated Hilltop Holdings (NYSE: HTH) with an Outperform rating.

• Dice Holdings (NYSE: DHX) was initiated with an Overweight rating and $15 target at Morgan Stanley.

• RBC Capital initiated VMware (NYSE: VMW) with a Sector Perform rating and $75 target.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

According to MarketWatch, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has cut a deal with China.com, part of CDC Corp. (NASDAQ: CHINA) to supply search functions for several of the company's websites.

Google needs the deal. Unlike the U.S., where the big search company has half the market, in China Baidu.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) has 60% of the search market by some measures. This leaves Google with little leverage with advertisers in the world's fastest growing and second largest internet market.

The Google deal puts it in bed with a second tier company, so it may have to do a number of these. CDC has a market cap of $951 million compared to Baidu at $7 billion.

It may be that Chinese consumers do not want to use a U.S. technology. Baidu did not come by its No. 1 spot by accident.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: VeraSun Energy (VSE), BioFuel Energy (BIOF), Electronic Arts (ERTS) and Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO) were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Citigroup initiated shares of VeraSun Energy (NYSE: VSE) and BioFuel Energy with Buy ratings, as the firm believes the ethanol industry is reaching an inflection point as profitability should be much improved in 2008.

• BioFuel (NASDAQ: BIOF) was also initiated with a Hold rating at AG Edwards on valuation and an Overweight rating at JP Morgan, who believes BioFuel has good growth prospects but trades at a discount relative to peers.

• Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) was initiated with a Neutral rating at Cowen, citing the company's rich valuation and mixed growth outlook.

• Cowen resumed coverage of Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ: TTWO) with an Outperform rating, as the firm believes TTWO is positioned for a strong 2H07 given the Grand Theft Auto IV and other titles...

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• CDC Corporation (NASDAQ: CHINA) was initiated with a Buy rating and $12 target at Montgomery.

• Oppenheimer started shares of Chelsea Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CHTP) with a Buy rating and $12 target.

• Banc of America initiated shares of Charming Shoppes (NASDAQ: CHRS) with a Neutral rating and $11 target.

• Raymond James initiated shares of Geokinetics (AMEX: GOK) with a Market Perform rating.

• King Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: KG) was initiated at Goldman Sachs with a Neutral rating and $19 target.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Good thing quarantined tuberculosis patient Andrew Speaker is a lawyer because if he gets better, he'll be spending the next few years in court defending his recent actions.

The 31-year-old personal injury attorney, the first person held by the government because of worries they might spread a disease, in 40 years, started making his case in the court of public opinion today to ABC's Diane Sawyer on "Good Morning America."

"I don't expect for people to ever forgive me. I just hope that they understand that I truly never meant to put them in harm," he said, apologizing to the people on his planes whom he might have exposed.

Speaker should feel guilty. He certainly didn't think too much about other people when he flew back from Europe, knowing he had an especially drug-resistant form of the disease. He claimed that he was heading back to the U.S. so he could seek treatment at the Denver clinic where is now detained.

It isn't clear whether Speaker actually broke any laws since he wasn't specifically ordered not to travel, according to a CDC official interviewed by the Associated Press. I'm not a lawyer, so I am not sure whether or not Speaker may face criminal charges though it seems likely that he will face civil lawsuits for his actions. To further complicate matters, his father-in-law is a TB researcher at the CDC, though both men say his exposure isn't related to this research.

Thank goodness neither his wife nor his new step-daughter have tested postiive for TB and that doctors think Speaker has a chance to beat the disease since he's young and otherwise healthy. The toughest battle he will face in the coming years is going to be living with himself and his notoriety.

Whenever a parent wants to teach a child about why they should do the right thing, they need look no further than the saga of Andrew Speaker.

Peanut butter manufactured under the "Peter Pan" and "Great Value" brands with the product code 2111 by ConAgra Foods (NYSE: CAG) is still making people sick, according to the latest report by the Centers for Disease Control. Although the entire batch of tainted peanut butter has long been pulled from store shelves, it's difficult to remove from consumer's shelves (especially as the two-dollar refund isn't exactly a money-maker). And processed peanut butter (as we well know) seems to last forever; I wouldn't be surprised if first-graders are still toting contaminated sandwiches to school in their lunchboxes next fall.

So as my college track buddy Josephine always said around October when the sniffles would break out around the locker room, "sickness is coming." Sickness is still coming, and likely will continue for some time; 628 cases in a whopping 47 of our 50 U.S. states have been reported, with more than 200 new since March when the CDC last reported (the peanut butter recall was announced in mid-February 2007).

ConAgra won't be producing peanut butter from its Sylvester, Ga. plant again for a while, as renovations to fix the moisture problems blamed for the contamination are still underway; but the company will reintroduce its Peter Pan brand in July. But with customers still sickening, will anyone go back? Would you eat Peter Pan peanut butter again?

ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE:CAG) is advising consumers to destroy any Peter Pan or Great Value peanut butter with a product code 2111 amid concerns about possible salmonella contamination.

There have been 300 cases in 39 states since August linked to tainted peanut butter, according to the , Associated Press, adding that it's the first time that peanut butter has been linked to this illness. About 20 percent of the people with the infection have been hospitalized and none thank goodness has died.

ConAgra, which hasn't found any problems with its products, is working with government officials and will take any additional measures that are needed, the wire service said. The affected peanut butter came from a plant in Sylvester, Georgia, according to the FDA.

Consumers can call a 24-hour hotline at 866-344-6970 with any questions or concerns.

What should investors do? Absolutely nothing.

Food companies, particularly large ones like ConAgra, are well-prepared to face these sorts of situations. The Omaha-based company isn't panicking and neither should shareholders.