SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea has approved the country’s first locally developed vaccine for swine flu. The Korea Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that the “Green Flu-S” vaccine developed by the local pharmaceutical firm Green Cross Corp. has been found to be safe and effective in eight weeks of clinical tests on 474 adults. The agency says the vaccine offered 91.3 percent of protection for those aged 18-64 years old and 63.4 percent of protection for those aged 65 years or older. It said there were minor side effects like fatigue, but no serious ones. The Health Ministry said the government plans to use the product to vaccinate about 17 million people or 35 percent of the 49 million population against swine flu until February next year.
