WHO to ship vaccine to poor nations soon

GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) said it plans to begin shipping H1N1 flu vaccines to poor countries in November.

Vaccine chief Marie-Paule Kieny says WHO wants to provide 60 million doses of the pandemic vaccine in the coming four to five months. This would be enough to cover health workers and some additional at-risk groups in developing countries.

The vaccines for the H1N1 strain of flu are being donated by pharmaceutical companies and rich countries that have already secured sufficient doses for their populations.