"Current supplies of pandemic vaccine are inadequate for a world population in which virtually everyone is susceptible to infection by a new and readily contagious virus," WHO director general Margaret Chan said in a statement.

Despite new evidence that only one dose of the vaccines currently being tested will be enough for most people, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said output next year will be "substantially less" than the 4.9 billion doses annual production forecast.

Some 25 pharmaceutical laboratories working on vaccines have indicated that weekly production is lower than 94 million doses, he said.

In May, the WHO had forecast a weekly output of 94.3 million doses if full scale vaccine production was launched.

But pharmaceutical companies have in recent weeks slashed their production expectations due to poorer than expected yields from the so-called "seed virus" strains developed by WHO-approved laboratories.

Amid growing fears that poorer nations will not get enough vaccines, the United States led nine countries which on Thursday pledged to make 10 percent of their swine flu vaccine supply available to other nations in need.

The UN health agency's chief applauded the move by the United States, Australia, Brazil, Britain, France, Italy, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland.

"Given that current demand outstrips supply, these donations, together with the doses pledged by manufacturers, will help increase supplies of pandemic vaccines to populations that would otherwise not have access," said Chan.

Swine flu cases are expected to increase as the Northern Hemisphere enters its winter season. Britain has already reported a new surge in caseload.

The WHO also announced Friday that the global flu death toll has reached 3,486, up 281 from a week ago.

The UN agency said the Americas region still has the highest death toll, at 2,625. The Asia-Pacific reported 620 fatalities, while Europe recorded at least 140 deaths. In the Middle East, 61 people succumbed to the virus while in Africa, 40 people have died from it.

The WHO also said flu activity was "above the seasonal baseline" in the United States and that it has reached epidemic levels in France and Japan.

Transmission is rife in central and south America and Asia, it added, while in temperate regions of the Southern Hemisphere, such as Australia and South Africa, flu activity is declining.

Experts have previously predicted that about one third of the world's population of more than 6.5 billion people could be affected by A(H1N1). But they stress that so far most victims are suffering only mild symptoms.

earlier related report
Australia clears swine flu vaccine rollout
Australia on Friday approved as safe and effective the nation's first swine flu vaccine, clearing the way for a mass adult immunisation programme later this month.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the country's drug regulator had determined, after "exhaustive evaluation", that the single-dose A(H1N1) vaccine was highly safe and had few side effects in adults.

"This decision now paves the way for a national vaccination programme to start later this month," Roxon said.

Australia had commissioned 21 million doses from vaccine-maker CSL, and four million were already on standby in the nation's major cities to be distributed to doctors and other health specialists starting next week, she said.

A national programme, which would be free and voluntary for all adults, would start on September 30. Roxon said it would be the "biggest vaccination programme that Australia has run."

Frontline health workers, pregnant women, indigenous people and those with underlying health conditions, such as asthma, cancer, diabetes, HIV and heart disease, would be targeted in the first stage of the immunisation.

Once child trials of the vaccine were complete, target groups including special-needs students and babies aged six months or younger would be vaccinated, Roxon said.

Since the pandemic started, the deaths of 172 Australians have been linked to swine flu, Roxon said, with thousands of hospitalisations across the country and more than 3,500 deaths worldwide.

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