India to introduce influenza vaccine this year

New Delhi, Jul 12 (PTI) After having got its first
swine flu vaccine, India is all set to introduce its first
influenza shot this year.

Probably among a few countries in the world which did
not have a vaccine against general influenza, India will have
a trivalent vaccine against flu by October this year.
Strains of raw material for the flu vaccine have been
collected by the World Health Organisation throughout the year
from various parts of the world, Drug Controller General of
India, Surinder Singh told PTI.
This year, H1N1 (swine flu) strain is among the three
strains which would be included in the flu vaccine, he said.
The manufacturers of the vaccine would be the four
companies which have produced the swine flu vaccine, including
Serum institute and Cadilla whose products have already hit
the market.
Singh said the manufacturers can use the left over
base from swine flu vaccine while making the seasonal flu
vaccine.
India has already unveiled its first indigenous
vaccine against swine flu which claimed over 18,000 lives
globally and more than 1,000 in the country.
Earlier, the vaccine was being imported from French
company Sanofi Pasteurs, for only health workers and other
high-risk people.
The mandate for developing the vaccine had been given
to four companies - Serum Institute (Pune), Cadila Healthcare
(Ahmedabad), Bharat Biotec (Delhi) and Panacea Biotech
(Hyderabad).
While the vaccine developed by Zydus Cadilla is
injectable, the one produced by Serum Institute would be in
the form of a nasal drop. PTI SPC