China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) gives greenlight to the clinical study of a newly developed vaccine on the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the third vaccine for the fatal disease under clinical study in the country.

The new inactivated SARS vaccine, developed jointly by the Beijing Administration for Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine and China New Drug Fund, has already produced satisfactory results from tests on animals.

Scientists are expected to test the safety of the new vaccine through first-phase clinical study.

Chinese scientists have been busy developing the vaccine in late April 2003 after the outbreak of SARS on the Chinese mainland.

SFDA officials said the approval of the clinical study of SARS vaccine is "vitally crucial" to the prevention and control of SARS epidemic.

However, it will take time for the vaccine to be applied to human being since there still exist some difficulties and uncertainties, officials said.

Editor: Wing