The Chinese government on Friday placed orders for 7.3 million doses of vaccine for the H1N1 strain of flu from domestic firms Sinovac Biotech and Hualan Biological, Reuters reported, citing state media. The Ministry of Information and Technology placed orders for 3.3 million 15-microgram doses from Sinovac and 4 million from Hualan. The doses will be held as government stock. Sinovac was the first company worldwide to complete clinical trials of a vaccine to treat H1N1, also known as swine flu, and received approval for mass production on Thursday. Hualan’s vaccine was approved this week. Global pharmaceutical firms are racing to produce vaccines before winter when the virus can spread more easily.