More than 3.78 million Chinese people have been inoculated with the A/H1N1 flu vaccine as of Saturday, with no reports of serious adverse reaction, Xinhua quoted the Ministry of Health as saying today. The vaccination campaign has been launched across the country except in Chongqing Municipality and the provinces of Anhui, Jiangxi and Sichuan, the ministry said. About 33.4 million doses of vaccines have been approved for use as of Saturday, 26 million of which have been dispatched to local medical institutions, according to the ministry. Calculating on their existing production capacities, the eight domestic vaccine manufacturers are expected to produce a total of 100 million doses of vaccines by the first quarter of next year, according to the ministry. But for now, about 390 million people in China needed inoculation most. Targeted groups included the People"s Liberation Army (PLA) and armed police forces, police, medical staff, teachers, students, people working at key public service posts, and patients with chronic or cardiovascular diseases, experts said. Children under the age of three and pregnant women are not included in the targeted groups due to lack of clinical data, said the ministry, adding that relevant departments are considering to carry out clinical tests. As of Saturday, more than 46,000 confirmed A/H1N1 flu cases had been reported on the Chinese mainland, 75 percent of whom had recovered. Among the 93 cases of serious condition, 55 were still in hospital, the ministry said. Starting from Oct. 2, six deaths from the flu have been reported on the Chinese mainland, the ministry said. More than 1,500 cases of mass infection have been reported across the country, 98 percent of which were related to schools. The flu has entered a period featured by high frequency and quick increase in the number of infected cases in the country, and it could last through March next year, experts warned. But the state of the flu was still mild in China, experts said. The Chinese mainland has now 411 laboratories and 556 hospitals engaging in monitoring flu cases. Vaccination was one of the effective ways to prevent flu spreading, but seasonal flu vaccines would not help protect people against the A/H1N1 flu, experts said. --SPA
