As many as 500,000 doses of a vaccine against the A(H1N1) virus, also known as swine flu, will be purchased by Belarus, according to the National Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Public Health.
The center said that the swine flu shots would be made available for health workers and representatives of other key professions.
The country's swine flu vaccination program is in full compliance with the World Health Organization's recommendations, the agency stressed.
Some 1.5 million people have been sickened by influenza and other acute respiratory infections in Belarus since October 19, the day when the incidence of flu and cold started rising. The health authorities said that influenza accounted for less than three percent of all of the cases.
Deputy Health Minister Robert Chasnoyts said last month that swine flu vaccine shots would be supplied to Belarus in the latter half of December. He said that Belarus was in talks with a number of producers, including a Russian company.
More than a million people were vaccinated against seasonal flu in Belarus earlier this year, an increase of 36 percent compared with the previous year. Children accounted for more than 37 percent of those immunized.
The health authorities acknowledged that despite an increase in funding for the immunization campaign, the number of flu vaccine doses available in Belarus was still not enough.
