MOSCOW, October 19 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a resolution to allocate 4 billion rubles ($136 million) to buy swine flu vaccines.
"I have signed a resolution on buying the vaccines in 2009 to prevent the flu from spreading through Russia's territory," Putin said at a meeting of the inner cabinet.
First Deputy Prime Minister Victor Zubkov said the money would be sufficient for 43 million doses, or one third of the country's population.
Russia will start producing the vaccine in November at plants in Ufa in the Urals, East Siberia's Irkutsk, and St. Petersburg.
"All of the plants are ready to start mass production," Zubkov said.
