The Spanish government is ordering enough supplies of the A/H1N1 flu vaccine to protect over 60 percent of its population, Spanish Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez said on Monday.

The government had originally planned to order an amount of vaccines to protect 40 percent of the population, but later increased the supply to 60 percent who are considered either most at risk or essential to the running of the society.

The targets include seriously ill people who are over six months old, pregnant women, health workers, firemen, security forces, the military and other civil protection workers, Jimenez said.

However, healthy children are not included, nor is the government planning to delay the children's return to school following the summer holidays.

"There are not any clinical or epidemiological reasons to do that," explained the minister.

So far, 21 people have died from the A/H1N1 virus in Spain. The Health Ministry has put the level of infection at 41.17 cases per 100,000 people.

(Xinhua News Agency September 1, 2009)

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