13/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - At the press conference following the Health Council in Luxembourg on Monday 12 October, Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said that two of the three laboratories (Ed: Novartis, GSK and Baxter) which had been granted marketing authorisation for their vaccines against flu A(H1N1) would, within the week, submit a request to the European Medicines Agence (EMEA) for a recommendation that one single injection is sufficient. “The third (Baxter) is expected to follow suit,” she said. The scientific studies which suggest that one single dose is sufficient to provide effective protection against the virus will be examined by the EMEA experts in the course of next week, Vassiliou said. Five member states (the Baltic countries, Malta and Bulgaria) are using a joint call for tenders model drawn up by the Commission to pool their order for vaccines. If the opinion of the laboratories on dosage is accepted by the EMEA, “many European states will be able make some of these vaccines available to other EU member states,” the commissioner suggested. (O.J./transl.rt)