Prague - Vaccines against swine flu will be available at the end of November, according to the Czech Ministry of Health.

As Aktuálně.cz learned, the manufacturer is to be the Novartis company.

The Czech government is scheduled to sign the contract with Novartis in the coming days. The deal will guarantee the vaccine supply for 2.5 million people.

"The contract should have been signed today but there are some shorcomings. So our lawyer is reviewing it at the moment," said ministry spokesperson Vlastimil Sršeň. "But it should be signed very soon," he added..

The contract is designed to make the manufacturing firm responsible for side effects and for the vaccine as such. It should  prevent a situation when the country would have to use unapproved medication, as it happened in the US and Great Britain.

The first doses of the vaccine will be distributed to healthcare workers, firemen, police and those working in food industry. It is estimated there are about 2 million in a high risk of being exposed to the swine flu virus.

The country has been spared by a large outbreak of the swine flu virus. As of today the Czech Republic reports 162 cases. However, health workers warn that the fall weather with frequent flu epidemics could cause a massive increase of cases.