Germany will vaccinate about one-third of its population against the A/H1N1 influenza, health authorities from 16 federal states announced Friday.

The German states have together ordered 50 million doses of A/H1N1 flu vaccine, which would be enough to protect 25 million people, or about one third of the country's population, since everyone has to be vaccinated twice.

Juergen Banzer, health minister of the state of Hessen, confirmed that the vaccine is currently being developed, and won't be ready until the end of September, the German news agency DPA reported.

First on the list to be vaccinated are those in especially high risk groups such as asthmatics, the chronically ill and people working in the health industry.

The total cost for the vaccine was expected to stand at 700 million euros (around US$992 million), which will eventually be paid by the individual health insurance agencies.

The number of confirmed cases of A/H1N1 flu continued to rise in Germany, with 389 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, health officials said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 25, 2009)