The French government has ordered 94 million doses of the A/H1N1 flu vaccine, Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said on Thursday.

"More vaccines will be available by mid-October," Bachelot told a press conference.

She added that the government had ordered the vaccines from big pharmaceutical companies in the United States, Britain and Switzerland.

The government has already received its first batch of flu vaccine, local media reported.

After the vaccine gets official approval and several million doses of the vaccine are available, the mass vaccinations could begin and will be carried out free and on a voluntary basis, she said.

The French Institute for Public Health Surveillance has estimated that there are about 4,500 flu cases in the country's mainland and 100 cases in its overseas territories.