Illinois, NYC to import flu vaccine

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that Illinois will help the city import 200,000 doses of flu vaccine manufactured in Europe by GlaxoSmithKline (LSE:GSK; GSK) and the Aventis Pasteur unit of sanofi-aventis (Euronext:SAN; SNY). Though the vaccines have not yet been approved in the U.S., Blagojevich said, "The FDA told us that they are committed to working with us to evaluate the flu vaccine we've secured." FDA will inspect GSK's manufacturing plants in Germany and SAN's in France. The vaccine will be imported using British wholesaler Ecosse, which recently provided 300,000 doses for Blagojevich's own state and, with Illinois' help, 150,000 doses for New Mexico. ...