Vietnam plans to make vaccines against bird flu virus strain H5N1 for humans in late 2009 after successful trials, according to local newspaper Pioneer on Friday.

A dose of the vaccine, developed by a local company named Vabiotech under Vietnam's National Hygiene and Epidemiology Institute, will have a selling price of some 30,000 Vietnamese dong (US$1.8).

The vaccine, called Fluvax, has been tested on local volunteers, and then proved effective. The health of the volunteers is good.

Vietnam has confirmed a total of 106 human cases of bird flu infections, including 52 fatalities, in 36 cities and provinces since bird flu started to hit the country in December 2003.

Since late 2003, the disease has killed and led to the forced culling of dozens of millions of poultry in Vietnam

(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2008)