More than 3.78 mn Chinese people vaccinated against swine flu

BEIJING - The Chinese health ministry said Sunday that more than 3.78 million people in the country have been vaccinated against swine flu as of Saturday with no reports of serious adverse reaction.

The vaccination campaign has been launched across the country except in Chongqing municipality and provinces of Anhui, Jiangxi and Sichuan, a Xinhua report quoted health ministry sources as saying.

About 33.4 million doses of vaccine have been approved for use till Saturday and 26 million out of this approved stock have already been sent to all the parts of the country, the sources added.

More than 46,000 confirmed swine flu cases have been reported from the Chinese mainland, and more than 90 cases out of this were said to be in serious condition.

Till 3 p.m. Friday, a total of six people on the Chinese mainland had died of the flu.

Experts have said that vaccination is one of the effective ways to prevent swine flu from spreading, but seasonal flu vaccines would not help protect people against swine flu.