The Flu Research Institute has handed over experimental vaccines from the A/H1N1/ virus to companies for production of pilot batches, head of the National Flu Centre of the WHO in St Petersburg, Oleg Kiselev, said. He said this was necessary for further clinical tests.
The vaccines are scheduled to be tested on volunteers after September 7. The experiment may last a month, Kiselev said. The Flu Research Institute said pilot batches of vaccines would be made in St Petersburg, Irkutsk and Ufa. "The schedule of creating the vaccine from the new flu is under systemic control of the Ministry of Health and Social Development," Kiselev added.
Earlier Russia's chief Sanitary Inspector Gennady Onishchenko had said that 40 million doses of the vaccine from the new flu would be made in the country in 2009. Confirming the news first Vice Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said, "Funding for the production of the vaccine has been secured, and the enterprises to be involved in this work are ready."
He also added that all work on the vaccine is proceeding as scheduled and testing should be completed at the end of August so that commercial production of the vaccine and its supply to medical institutions could begin in November. The government has provided 340 million roubles for the prevention of the spread of the new flu.
{{/usCountry}}He also added that all work on the vaccine is proceeding as scheduled and testing should be completed at the end of August so that commercial production of the vaccine and its supply to medical institutions could begin in November. The government has provided 340 million roubles for the prevention of the spread of the new flu.
{{/usCountry}}Most of that sum has been earmarked for the creation of the vaccine. A total of 180 A/H1N1/ cases have been registered in Russia till date.