India to unveil second swine flu vaccine

NEW DELHI: India will soon unveil a second vaccine to battle swine flu that has erupted again, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said Friday.

The disease has affected more than 15,000 people in the past one year and claimed 16 lives last week in the country.

"We did not have a vaccine for flu earlier. H1N1 came as a blessing in disguise as we could develop a vaccine," Azad told a national seminar here on recent trends in pharmacy education and practice.

"We requested the pharmaceutical companies for the vaccine. They came up with it in just eight months," he said.

The first indigenous swine flu vaccine was manufactured by pharmacy giant Zydus Cadila and launched last month.

"The next vaccine will be launched soon," Azad said, without disclosing the name of the manufacturer.

The seminar was inaugurated by President Pratibha Patil, who congratulated the health ministry for the development of India's first swine flu vaccine in a short period of time.

Most swine flu cases have come from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.