The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has agreed to expand the clinical test of a domestically-made A/H5N1 flu vaccine.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has agreed to expand the clinical test of a domestically-made A/H5N1 flu vaccine.

The test will be conducted on 1,000 healthy volunteers. Previously, the vaccine was tested on 500 volunteers, and they showed good results with no side-effects.

A representative from Company for Vaccine and Biological Production Co. No.1, under the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, said that if the tests continue to show good results, the company will start production, which would provide for four to five million doses of the vaccine per year.

This number is just enough to meet demand of people in the areas affected by flu epidemic.

Recently, the United Nations\' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned about a mutation of the H5N1 virus that has appeared in China and Vietnam, which is apparently resistant to existing vaccines.

Since it first appeared in 2003, the virus has infected 565 people around the world, killing 331. The latest death was recorded earlier this month in Cambodia.