Britain has received a first batch of 100,000 doses of swine flu vaccine, which still have to be licensed before being used on patients, the Department of Health said on Thursday.
The vaccine was delivered by US pharmaceutical company Baxter, but "hasn't been through the licensing process yet," said a spokeswoman, adding that it could be approved by early October "if everything is fairly straightforward." Once it is fully licensed, the vaccine will initially be used on at-risk groups, such as people with asthma and diabetes, officials added.
England's Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson said doctors he had spoken to want the vaccine as soon as possible, ahead of an expected second wave of infection as the northern hemisphere winter approaches. Polls of doctors and nurses have suggested they are reluctant to be vaccinated, over fears that it has been insufficiently tested.
Britain is Europe's hardest hit country by the virus, which emerged in Mexico before escalating into a global pandemic. So far 66 people with the virus have died. Donaldson stressed that the vast majority of cases produce relatively mild symptoms, while adding: "It still remains the case that this disease is not a killer but it can kill."
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