Minister says flu vaccine good for young children

The vaccine developed in Hungary against the new flu can be used to inoculate children from age one, Health Minister Tamas Szekely told reporters on Monday.

The National Drug Institute has issued the permit for the new vaccine to be used also for the age group 1-3, as the related clinical tests have been completed, he said.

Inoculation in nurseries and in schools is also to start soon, with the treatment requiring parental consent, he added.

The minister said that the vaccine is continuously available in 430 pharmacies.

Szekely confirmed that troubled Ukraine had requested Hungary's contribution, but only for medicine to treat possible complications. Hungary will send packages of the requested drugs to the neighbouring country, he said.

Deputy chief medical officer Kornelia Molnar said that in Hungary altogether 306 patients had been diagnosed with contracting the A/H1N1 virus since it appeared in May. Until now four patients have died and 64 had to be treated in hospital, she said.

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