European Medicines Agency has given the green signal to one of UK's swine flu vaccines - the GlaxoSmithKline vaccine, called Pandemrix. The European drugs regulator's recommendation of Pandemrix implies that the vaccine can be used in the European Union within a few weeks, once the licensing formalities are completed.

Despite the fact that some early clinical trials suggested that one dose may be enough in healthy adults, the Pandemrix vaccine will still be licensed on a two-dose basis. Further, the clinical will be closely monitored by the drugs regulator, which may later decide to revise the recommendations.

The British government, which has bought 60 million doses of the vaccine, will first offer the vaccine to 13 million people in the priority groups next month, before providing two-doses for the whole population.

The priority groups that will be provided the vaccinations include pregnant women; six-month-olds to 65-year-olds suffering from long-term illnesses; health and social care workers; and people residing with patients who have a compromised immune system.

Talking about the safety concerns pertaining to the vaccine, European Medicines Agency said that vaccine manufacturers have been asked to "implement plans to actively investigate and monitor the safety of vaccines as soon as they are used across the EU, so that action can be taken as early as possible if a safety issue emerges."