A Chinese pharmaceutical firm began a two-month clinical test on the country's first batch of A/H1N1 influenza vaccines on Wednesday in Taizhou City in the eastern province of Jiangsu.

More than 2,000 volunteers recruited in the city took part in the trials carried out by Hualan Biological Engineering Inc., said Fan Bei, deputy general manager of the company.

The tests came exactly one month after the vaccines were produced by the Henan-based company, and submitted for laboratory test in June.

Hualan was among the first in China to receive the seed virus of the A/H1N1 flu on June 3, and produced the country's first batch of A/H1N1 vaccines, 90,000 doses in all, on June 22.

The clinical trials, supervised by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, were aimed at specifying the dosage and the immunity procedures of the vaccines, said Fan.

The volunteers, divided into five age groups, would receive the vaccines in turns on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. A second round of inoculation is due 21 days after the initial vaccination.

During the two-month clinical test, the volunteers would have antibody tests four times, Fan said. Follow-up tests would continue till six months after their initial vaccination.

Previous reports said the vaccines were expected to hit the market in September should they pass both laboratory and clinical tests, and the Hualan Biological Engineering Inc. would be able to make 600,000 doses a day.

As of July 20, China had reported 1,668 cases of the A/H1N1 influenza on its mainland, of whom 1,355 had recovered and been discharged from hospital, the Health Ministry said Monday.

No deaths or critical cases of the virus have been reported on the Chinese mainland, but a patient in Hangzhou of eastern Zhejiang Province was reportedly electrocuted in a hospital bathroom on July 1.

A medical staff displays A/H1N1 influenza vaccines in Beijing, capital of China, on July 22, 2009. Sinovac Biotech Co. Ltd. began clinical test on A/H1N1 influenza vaccines Wednesday in Beijing. The volunteers will inoculate the first batch of A/H1N1 influenza vaccines in a week and the research will be completed in September. [Xinhua]   A medical staff injects A/H1N1 influenza vaccine to a volunteer in Beijing, capital of China, July 22, 2009. [Xinhua]

(Xinhua News Agency July 23, 2009)