(Adds details, background) By Lucy Hornby BEIJING, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac <SVA.A> has received approval from Chinese health authorities to mass produce a vaccine for the H1N1 strain of flu, the company's CEO, Yin Weidong, said on Thursday. The State Food and Drug Administration gave the green light on Thursday for the vaccine, which Sinovac says needs only one shot to be effective. Sinovac's U.S.-listed shares have risen 77 percent in the last two weeks, and hit a historic high of $12.45 on Sept. 1, on anticipation that it would be able to produce and sell its vaccine to China's vast population. The stock closed down 18 percent on Wednesday, at $8.53 a share. Sinovac Biotech Ltd was the first company worldwide to complete clinical trials for a vaccine to treat the new strain of H1N1, generally known as swine flu. [ID:nLI544899] The Chinese government has said it plans to have enough vaccine to cover 5 percent of its population by year-end. China has stepped up public health warnings to prevent the spread of H1N1 over the last week, as students return to schools after the summer break. Over the weekend, authorities closed a high school in Xin'an county, near the city of Luoyang in Henan province, after 80 students were diagnosed with H1N1 flu. The World Health Organisation said that so far there are no signs warranting additional concern in China, where H1N1 has infected a reported 3,981 people of whom nearly 3,400 have recovered. There have been no deaths and only one severe case, in the southern province of Guangdong. "The situation is quite stable. The numbers are increasing but there haven't been any disturbing trends, like drug resistance or any mutation in the virus itself," the WHO's Beijing-based spokeswoman Vivian Tan said on Monday. (Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Ken Wills)
Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama (C) speaks to followers at a speech closed to the media at his hotel in Taipei September 3, 2009. Taiwan officials have asked the ...
