About 27.4 million doses of influenza vaccine are expected to be supplied to the market this year after passing national lot release approval.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Thursday it held a briefing session on national lot release approval for manufacturers and importers, aimed at ensuring smooth release of flu vaccines in the second half of this year and allowing the public to receive vaccinations at an appropriate time.
National lot release approval is a system in which the government conducts an additional quality check on vaccines and plasma-derived products before they enter the market, through testing and document review for each manufacturing lot.
The ministry expects about 27.45 million doses of flu vaccine to receive national lot release approval this year. That is an increase of about 1.9 million doses from the 25.5 million doses approved last year. The approval covers a total of 14 products, including eight domestically manufactured products and six imported products.
Domestically manufactured vaccines include GC Biopharma's GCFLU Pre-filled Syringe and GCFLU Quadrivalent Pre-filled Syringe, SK Bioscience's SKYCellflu Pre-filled Syringe, and Boryung Biopharma's Boryung Flu V Vaccine. Imported products include GSK's Fluarix Pre-filled Syringe, Sanofi's Vaxigrip, and Seqirus's Fluad Pre-filled Syringe.
This year, as in previous years, trivalent vaccines containing two type A strains (H1N1 and H3N2) and one type B strain (Victoria) will mainly be supplied, in line with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.
The ministry said it plans to carry out national lot release approval swiftly so that vaccines can be supplied stably ahead of the recommended vaccination period of October to November, when flu typically spreads.
