China will be able to produce enough A/H1N1 influenza vaccines for 65 million people by the end of this year, health minister Chen Zhu said Friday.
　　Currently 10 Chinese producers of seasonal flu vaccines are in a global race for the research and development of A/H1N1 flu vaccines, Chen said at an international experts meeting in Beijing.
　　One Chinese company announced early this week that it had completed medical trials on a new vaccine, with promising results.
　　Chen said there were already plans for clinical trials on vaccines developed by other companies, and the State Food and Drug Administration would fast-track the approval of new vaccines once they passed safety evaluation.
　　"The output of the companies by the end of this year will be able to cover 5 percent of the national population (or about 65 million people)," he told the International Scientific Symposium on Influenza A/H1N1 Pandemic Response and Preparedness.
　　Like other countries, China has made its plan for vaccine stocks to prevent possible new outbreaks of A/H1N1 flu later this year. Vaccination usually is first carried out among high risk groups and vulnerable people such as medics, the elderly and children, not necessarily the entire population.
　　It is believed that China's production capacity of A/H1N1 flu vaccines could be further expanded once more companies, beyond Sinovac Biotech Company, developed the vaccine.
　　Sinovac, a Beijing-based company, announced Tuesday that it had completed clinical tests on a new vaccine for the A/H1N1 flu virus, which proves to be "safe and effective". This was seen as a good start for the production and use of the vaccine.
　　This was also welcomed by officials with the World Health Organization (WHO) at the meeting on Friday.
　　"We are very encouraged by preliminary but promising results from the clinical trails of A/H1N1 vaccine," said Shin Young-soo, WHO's Regional Director for the Western Pacific.
　　Shin said China has an important role to play in the global fight against the flu pandemic, including vaccine development and production for the developing world.
　　"I am pleased by China's preparedness and response to A/H1N1, given its large population," Shin said. "We would greatly welcome an initiative by the Chinese government to support developing and needy countries in a fair distribution of this vaccine."
　　Keiji Fukuda, Assistant Director-General of the WHO, agreed with Shin that equal access to the A/H1N1 vaccines was currently the biggest challenge for the world.
　　"Although we have several different tools to fight the influenza, such as information sharing, surveillance and quarantine, but vaccine is still the most effective one," Fukuda said during Friday's symposium.
　　"The world has a very large population, so one of the biggest challenges right now is how do we make vaccines as available to everybody as possible," he said.
　　He said vaccine companies in the world have pledged to donate 150 million doses of vaccines so far, but the WHO is still hoping for more in the future.
　　In order to increase production of the vaccines, the WHO has been working with many countries, including China, to facilitate the manufacturing of the vaccines, he said.
　　In the meantime, Fukuda warned of a possible increase of the number of people infected by the A/H1N1 virus in the coming one to two years.
　　"I think in China, as well as in other countries, we have to expect to see that many more people would get infected," he said.
　　In winter times when the influenza virus usually become more active, "it is quite likely that there will be increasing activity and more infections in the entire northern hemisphere," Fukuda said.
　　However, he was optimistic about China's ability in curbing the influenza.
　　"China has been closely evaluating the disease in the country and has been looking for different options for controlling the disease. As long as the government keep on maintaining the situation, it will do quite fine," he said.
　　Fukuda said he had been working with China over the past decade on influenza prevention and had witnessed the enormous progress the country had made, evident in its preparedness and its effective surveillance. (Xinhua)