Washington, Sep 18 (DPA) The US will share 10 percent of its H1N1 vaccine supply with other countries to combat the global spread of the pandemic, President Barack Obama said Thursday.
The US vaccines would be made available to countries through the World Health Organization (WHO), recognising that “diseases know no borders, and the health of the American people is inseparable from the health of people around the world,” the White House said.
The vaccine will be made available on a rolling basis in cooperation with Australia, Brazil, France, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and Britain.
According to the latest WHO estimates, more than 277,607 people have been sickened by swine flu this year worldwide, with at least 3,205 reported deaths.
The US Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved a vaccine designed to protect against swine flu and hopes to make it available within a month.
The regulator approved the vaccine manufactured by four different pharmaceutical companies and said the first batches of shots should be available within the next four weeks in the US.
The H1N1 vaccine produces immunity within eight to 10 days of the injection.
The first major outbreak of the new variant of the influenza virus occurred this spring in Mexico and quickly spread across the world.
