China will have first shots in 10 days

[AlaskaDenise]

China Daily, China?s official newspaper, reported that the country will have the influenza vaccine in ten days, laboratories and Hualan Sinovac received approval from the State Agency for Food and Drug Administration and has 10 days to fulfill requests .

The process is unknown for these two laboratories have been ahead of foreign competitors, who were scheduled to deliver within two months.
A specialist told the newspaper that they ?might have greatly simplified and accelerated testing, given that both companies are providing regular flu vaccines to the Chinese government.?

Chen Zhu, Minister of Health confirmed that ?a couple of weeks ago he was one of the volunteers who were participating in trials of Panflu.1, by Sinovac.

On the website the company said that ?the process was a? success ?and approval was obtained from the experts unanimously in only two days at a special meeting of the Chinese drug agency. In return, it has received an order for 3.3 million doses. ?

Also that ?on October 1st we will produce 5 million immunizations, and more than 20 million in one year. Panflu.1 is suitable only for people from 3 to 60 years. ?

The laboratory Hualan, will provide 4 million doses, though it could produce 13 million by Oct. 1st.

The 7.3 million doses will be kept by the state, to maintain a strategic reserve.

The Chinese health ministry estimated that by year?s end, China will be able to produce vaccines for 65 million people, or 5% of its population.

Apparently Chinese vaccines are not intended for Europe so the EU will be waiting for the labs who are ready and with the corresponding approval by the end of October or early November.

If an emergency arises in a country, they indicated that they were willing to share the received vaccines. (????)

The German Jo Leinen, chairman of the Health Commission of the European Parliament said on Thursday that ?this generous offer will be realized next month at a meeting of health ministers.?

And ?the EU had its own reserve of vaccines and antivirals to be divided among the countries that needed them,? but the idea went nowhere.

http://momento24.com/en/2009/09/05/swine-flu-china-will-have-the-first-shots-in-10-days/

 

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Re: China will have first shots in 10 days

China begins mass vaccinations for swine flu (AFP)

21 September 2009 BEIJING -

China kicked off mass vaccinations for swine flu Monday in Beijing, making it apparently the first nation in the world to start innoculating its population against the virus.

The Asian giant has been at the forefront of international efforts to produce an A(H1N1) influenza vaccine, with at least five companies receiving government approval for the work. Officials however have warned demand will exceed supply.

The capital?s municipal health bureau announced Monday in a statement on its website that Beijing ?took the lead in China in starting A(H1N1) flu vaccinations?.

Authorities kicked off the programme by immunising students due to take part in next week?s National Day celebrations, the statement said. Around 100,000 students are due to attend, according to recent state media reports.

?We believe that China is the first country in the world to start mass vaccinations for A(H1N1) flu,? Vivian Tan, spokeswoman for the World Health Organisation in China, told AFP.

The health ministry has said it plans to vaccinate 65 million people, or five percent of the country?s total population of 1.3 billion, before year?s end.

A total of 500 medical workers in nearly 50 teams have been mobilised to go to schools across Beijing to give the students their shots, which are free and voluntary, the health bureau reported.

Apart from students taking part in festivities marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of communist China on October 1, medical workers, border inspection and transportation workers will also have priority.

The military and police, other kindergarten, elementary and middle school students and teachers, and those with chronic heart and lung diseases will also be given priority, according to the health ministry.

Shipments of vaccines have so far been distributed to eight provinces including Guangdong, Shandong, Sichuan and Hunan, where outbreaks have been the most severe, state media has reported.

Other nations are also preparing to vaccinate their populations against swine flu.

Australia is to start a mass adult immunisation programme on September 30, while the United States has bought 195 million doses of swine flu vaccine and will make shots available next month.

Britain, meanwhile, has received a first batch of 100,000 doses of swine flu vaccine, which could be approved for public distribution by early October.

On Monday, China had recorded 13,262 cases of A(H1N1) flu, according to the latest information released on the health ministry?s website. No deaths have yet been reported.

A top ministry official predicted earlier this month that tens of millions of people could be infected with the virus in China in the coming months, leading to ?unavoidable? fatalities.

The virus has now spread to all of China?s 31 provinces and regions and 95 percent of the cases are being transmitted domestically, rather than via travellers from abroad.

By Friday, A(H1N1) flu had killed nearly 3,500 people worldwide, and while the Americas still have the highest death toll from the virus, cases are expected to increase in Asia as the northern hemisphere enters winter.

China ? hit hard in the past by bird flu and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) ? took immediate measures to prevent the new virus from entering the country when it was first uncovered in the Americas.

It subsequently came in for international criticism over its severe quarantine rules, but authorities defended the moves as necessary to fend off a mass outbreak of A(H1N1).


http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Display...009/September/international_September1056.xml

 

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Re: China will have first shots in 10 days

14 in Beijing Given Sinovac's H1N1 Flu Vaccinations Show 'Adverse Effects'


BEIJING, Sept. 23 (Kyodo) ? Fourteen people who this week received H1N1 flu vaccinations in Beijing in China's first mass inoculations against the virus have displayed "adverse effects," state media reported Wednesday.

The 14 were among 39,000 residents of the city who received the vaccines produced by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovec by Tuesday afternoon, Xinhua News Agency said.

State broadcaster CCTV reported that the "adverse effects" included fever, headache and nausea, and developed within 24 hours of receiving the vaccinations.

Some 10,000 performers and students involved in the Oct. 1 National Day parade were in the first batch on the mainland to receive the vaccinations Monday, and no side effects were reported from among them.

A total of 100,000 students from schools and universities who are participating in the parade will receive the vaccines this week, state media earlier reported.

Prior to the first mass inoculations this week, the country had carried out small-scale vaccinations on test groups.

The vaccination program is targeted at youths and vulnerable groups in the population and was announced by the Chinese government earlier this month after it approved the vaccine produced by Sinovec.

Liang Xiaofeng, director of the immunization program, was quoted by Xinhua as saying that investigations were being carried out, adding that four of the 14 cases could be "related to the vaccines."

China, one of the first countries in the world to carry out large-scale vaccinations, has reported a rapid spread of H1N1 infections over recent weeks.

By Monday, over 13,000 cases of H1N1 flu had been confirmed in the mainland, more than double the figure given by health authorities just two weeks earlier.

The first case of the flu was reported in early May and, like the majority of the early flu cases, was "imported" from flu-hit countries.

Earlier this month, Chinese Health Minister Chen Zhu warned that the country was entering a "severe phase" in the fight against the flu, with increasing incidences of mass domestic infections.

The weeklong National Day holidays in a week's time present an added risk for infection, as 200 million Chinese are expected to be on the move during the holidays.


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