China approved Thursday the A/H1N1flu vaccine produced by domestic pharmaceutical company Sinovac, making it the first to get a production license in the global race.

The State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) issued the license for Sinovac' s vaccine called Panflu.1 on Thursday, after it passed SFDA' s experts evaluation on August 31.

Panflu.1 could safely be given to people aged from 3 to 60 years old in a single shot, 15 microgram dose, according to the evaluation report.

Sinovac had the capacity to produce 5 million doses of vaccine before October 1, and 20 million to 30 million doses per year, said president Yin Weidong.

Another A/H1N1 flu vaccine, produced by Chinese pharmaceutical company Hualan Biological Engineering Inc., is also hopeful to be given the country's second approval this week.

(Xinhua News Agency September 3, 2009)