Four pharmaceutical multinationals have offered to sell swine flu vaccines to Vietnam at US$6.5-10 per dose.

The National Institute for Control of Vaccines and Biological Agents, will test the vaccines’ safety.

Vietnam wanted to import 500,000 doses of vaccines in addition to 1.2 million sponsored by the World Health Organization, which is expected to arrive next month, Cuong said.

Also on Wednesday Nguyen Van Kinh, director general of the Hanoi based National Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases, told a meeting that the number of swine flu patients in critical condition was increasing.

It is estimated that 10 percent of the 100-150 H1N1 positive patients admitted to hospitals every day are in critical condition, he said.

Since it was first detected here in May, swine flu has claimed 42 lives nationwide with a 23-year-old woman from the southern province of Binh Phuoc the latest victim, the Department of Preventive Health and Environment reported at the meeting.

Reported by Lien Chau