Is this SVA's vaccine??????? -->
Tuesday, November 15, 2005 (Beijing):
China announced on Monday that it would soon begin testing its own human vaccines for bird flu.
Laboratory tests have already found the vaccines to be safe and effective on mice.
China's Agriculture Ministry has said the country is producing more than 100 million doses of bird flue vaccine everyday - enough to deal with an epidemic.
The Ministry has stepped up production of the vaccine to guarantee supply and has the capacity to produce 16 billion doses of bird flu vaccine a year, if needed.
Using new technology, the vaccine can now be produced in 34 days, compared to a 44-day production cycle previously, Xinhua reported.
Two extra factories have now started producing vaccines for waterfowl.
The news agency reported that the Agriculture Ministry has also started cracking down on counterfeit vaccines.
New case
On Monday, China reported a new case of bird flu in poultry in the country's east - its ninth outbreak since October 19.
China hasn't confirmed any human cases of bird flu, but authorities have warned that infections among people are inevitable if outbreaks among the country's vast poultry flocks cannot be controlled.
China has more than 14 billion farm poultry, accounting for almost 21 per cent of the world's total.
Outbreaks have been reported throughout the country - Inner Mongolia and Liaoning in the north, Anhui in the east and Hunan and Hubei in central China.
Dead birds were also reported earlier this year in the western areas of Xinjiang and Qinghai. (AP)
