Official: China might have A/H1N1 influenza vaccine by July

"The country has set up a green channel between the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Chinese drug makers. As soon as the WHO releases the vaccine strain, drug companies will be informed and will start manufacturing as soon as they can," Yin Hongzhang, head of the biology production department under the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), told Xinhua in an exclusive interview. "If we can get the strain before early June, our drug companies will have produced the vaccine by July, under current conditions," Yin said. He said the green channel would save drug companies up to one month, compared with normal procedures for developing vaccines. According to Yin, as vaccine manufacturing requires high-level safety, China must produce one in line with WHO protocols. Last week, WHO said that drug companies wouldn't be able to make an A/H1N1 vaccine until mid-July at the earliest as the virus was growing slowly in labs, making it difficult for scientists to get the key ingredient for a vaccine; Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.chinaview.cn for full version