Children under age 10, would need two doses of the influenza A(H1N1) vaccine while children ages 10 and older would need just one shot, a United States health official said, reported China's Xinhua news agency.

Early trials show that younger children are not having a robust immune reaction to the A(H1N1) flu vaccine, and that they would likely need to have their doses 21 days apart, Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told reporters in a telephone briefing.

h1n1 flu malaysia school children students wearing mask 260609 01 Protection kicks in for older children within eight to 10 days of the shot, just like it does for adults, Fauci said. These results were similar to those recently reported in the clinical trials of healthy adults.

"This is very encouraging news. As we had hoped, responses to the 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine are very similar to what we see with routinely used seasonal influenza vaccines made in the same way," Fauci explained.

It seems likely that the A(H1N1) flu vaccine will require just one 15-microgram dose for children 10 to 17 years of age, he added.

V accine contains purified part of killed virus

Fauci said these were welcome results, as the A(H1N1) flu was causing widespread infections among children.

NONE The vaccine being tested in this trial is manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur Inc. Like inactivated seasonal flu vaccines, the vaccine contains a purified part of a killed virus and cannot cause flu.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved four vaccines against the A(H1N1) flu virus on Sept 15.

The vaccines are made by CSL Ltd, MedImmune LLC, Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Ltd, and Sanofi Pasteur Inc. All four firms produce the vaccines using the same process, and have a long record of producing safe seasonal influenza vaccines.

The US government has ordered 195 million doses of A(H1N1) vaccine from the five drugmakers.

No new death in Malaysia

Meanwhile, Malaysian Health director-general Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said no new H1N1 death was recorded and the death toll remained at 77.

NONE He said that a total of 587 influenza-like illness (ILI) cases are currently being treated at 74 hospitals nationwide.

Of the total, 169 cases or 29 percent were confirmed Influenza A (H1N1) cases, he said in the ministry's website.

Mohd Ismail advised the public to continue observing the H1N1 safety guidelines during the festive celebration, and for the ILI cases to isolate themselves and get complete rest at home until all the symptoms were gone.

- Bernama