British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline said on Tuesday it had orders for 440 million doses of its swine flu vaccine ahead of the northern hemisphere's winter that could bring a second wave of the virus.

"GSK is committed to supporting governments and health authorities around the world respond to the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza strain," the company said in a statement.

Twenty-two governments have ordered 149 million doses since the last figures issued by the company on August 4, it said, adding that discussions were continuing with governments for further supplies.

GlaxoSmithKline had announced on late last month that it would begin shipping its swine flu vaccine Pandemrix across Europe this week.

"First supplies of the vaccine will be shipped to governments during the week commencing 5th October," GSK added on Tuesday.

"Shipments of the vaccine will be delivered in both the fourth quarter of 2009 and the first half of 2010."

The London-listed group said that vaccine deliveries were dependent on a number of factors including government import/export regulations, regulatory approvals and additional laboratory testing.

"GSK will continue to provide regular updates to governments relating to delivery schedules to support them in planning their vaccination programmes," it added.

The European Commission had last week cleared Pandemrix and another vaccine, Focetria, for distribution in Europe. Focetria is produced by Swiss pharmaceuticals group Novartis.

In addition, European regulators paved the way on Friday for a third pandemic vaccine to be approved for use across the European Union.

The London-based European Medicines Agency (EMEA) had recommended that the European Commission give the green light for the Celvapan vaccine, produced by US drugs firm Baxter, to be used across the EU's 27 member nations.

The EMEA added that an authorisation decision on Celvapan was expected "shortly" from the EC.

earlier related report

China reports first swine flu death, warns of heightened risk

China on Tuesday announced its first swine flu death, saying a patient in its southwestern Tibet region had died from the disease and warning the threat from the disease could soon worsen.

In response, the government had "urgently" sent 200,000 doses of influenza A(H1N1) vaccine to the region since Sunday's death in a bid to contain the virus, China's health ministry said in a statement on its website.

"An influenza A(H1N1) sufferer in the region died after efforts to save the sufferer failed," it said.

"This is our first domestic report of a swine flu death," said the statement, which gave no further details on the victim.

However, state-run Xinhua news agency said in a report from the Tibetan regional capital Lhasa that the victim was an 18-year-old female who entered a hospital in the city on Saturday with severe flu symptoms.

China — hit hard in the past by bird flu and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) — took swift and tough measures against the virus when it first emerged in the Americas.

This included strictly quarantining scores of foreign tourists and students merely for arriving on flights on which a virus sufferer was found.

But China has warned of a spike in cases — and deaths — during the winter flu season.

The health ministry said last month that "tens of millions" of people in the world's most populous country could get the virus in the coming months, adding that fatalities would be "unavoidable".

The health ministry released a separate statement on its website after reporting the Tibet death, warning of a growing risk from the disease.

"High-risk populations that already have underlying health conditions face especially great danger," it said.

However, in an apparent attempt to head off any panic over the fatality, it also stressed that authorities had reacted proactively to the disease and put in place systems allowing them to move rapidly against any outbreak.

The ministry statement also said China had now confirmed a total of 21,453 cases since swine flu first emerged, including 13 people who remained in serious condition.

China began mass vaccinations against swine flu last month, making it one of the first nations to start inoculating its population against the virus.

It has been at the forefront of efforts to develop vaccines, with several Chinese pharmaceutical companies already receiving government approval for versions they had developed.

However, it has warned that demand would likely exceed supply.

The health ministry has said it plans to vaccinate 65 million people, or five percent of the country's total population of 1.3 billion, before year's end.

It said late last month that China would have a stockpile of 26 million swine flu vaccine shots by the end of October, with that number eventually surging to 100 million, but not before year's end.

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