The Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals under the Vietnamese Ministry of Health has successfully produced two vaccines against two types of influenza viruses of A/H1N1 and A/H5N1 after years of research. Under a project funded by the World Health Organization (WHO), these two vaccines are now being produced at a plant in the central province of Khanh Hoa, said Dr. Le Van Be, head of the Institute. The institute is now conducting trials of another vaccine for the H7N9 avian flu virus, he added. The project was jointly set up between the ministry and the institute in 2008 with the aim of studying and producing influenza vaccines at a capacity of 1-3 million doses per year. The H1N1 virus, which caused a worldwide pandemic in 2009, is now a human seasonal flu virus that also circulates in pigs. The virus spreads between people in the same way that seasonal flu viruses spread, while H5N1 causes a highly infectious, severe respiratory disease in birds called avian influenza or bird flu. Human cases of H5N1 avian influenza occur occasionally, but it is difficult to transmit the infection from person to person. When people do become infected, the mortality rate is about 60%, according to WHO. As of Sept 2013, more than 11,200 people in Vietnam had become infected with the H1N1 virus since it broke out worldwide in 2009. The virus killed 70 people by end-2011 before easing last year. (Tuoi Tre – Youth Dec 7, Nhan Dan – The People Dec 7)
