The Shanghai-made A/H1N1 flu vaccine has received the license for mass production from the State Food and Drug Administration, a must for government purchase and public use, company sources confirmed Wednesday.

Ma Xianghu, head of bio-product center under the Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, told Xinhua Wednesday that the city-made vaccine adopted state-of-the-art ether technique, with less residue and weak clinical side-effect.

Prior to the National Day on Oct. 1, the institute will produce 3 million bottles of A/H1N1 flu vaccine, and its output will reach 10 million bottles at the end of the year, according to Ma.

On Tuesday night, officials with the institute met the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which is in charge of vaccine production and storage, to discuss production plans, according to Wednesday's Shanghai Daily.

The free vaccine, with purchase price covered by the government, is for people aged over three and one shot is reportedly enough to protecting against the A/H1N1 flu virus.

City vaccination plans drafted by the Shanghai Health Bureau are still being evaluated by the Ministry of Health.

"We will give preferential consideration to vulnerable groups like students, the elderly, medical-care workers and public service staff as well as people working for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo," Song Guofan, an Expo official, was quoted by the local newspaper as saying.

Wang Mengliang, vice director of the Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, said domestic vaccine producers were facing a huge demand.

The institute is the country's third licensed mass producer of A/H1N1 flu vaccine.

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. in Beijing and Hualan Biological Engineering Inc. in Henan, have also received licenses to produce A/H1N1 flu vaccine.

(Xinhua News Agency September 16, 2009)