Negative Blogs

China has developed a vaccine for swine flu and is set to become the first country in the world to begin mass inoculations, but there are concerns over possible side effects, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told CNN, “We have to be ready for the fact that there might be adverse effects.”

“No matter what vaccine you’re looking at, sometimes there are extremely rare side effects. We don’t even know what those are yet, but they will show up in one in every two or 10 million vaccinated.”

Inoculations could begin in the next few weeks, according to the South China Morning Post, before celebrations begin on October 1 to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic.

The vaccine, PANFLU.1, was developed by Sinovac Biotech Ltd and is suitable for people aged three to 60.

Sinovac says the single-shot vaccine has been approved by China’s National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products and has obtained the Certificate for the Release of Biological Products. It says more than five million doses will be ready by the end of September.