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Dr. Keiji Fukuda and Dr. David Heymann, will be in Jakarta today
Indonesia demands new vaccine rules
JAKARTA, Indonesia
Indonesia will not share bird flu samples with the World Health Organization until the U.N. body agrees to stop providing the strains to commercial vaccine makers without its permission, the health minister said Thursday.
Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari made the comments ahead of high-level talks with WHO bird flu officials on Friday about the government's refusal to share its H5N1 strain with foreign laboratories.
The country hardest hit by bird flu is worried drug companies will use its virus to make vaccines that will ultimately be unaffordable to developing nations.
Supari said Indonesia moved to act after an Australian company developed a vaccine using Indonesian samples sent to a WHO center for diagnostic confirmation "without our permission."
Indonesia triggered a storm of criticism last week when it signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S. drug manufacturer Baxter Healthcare Corp. to develop a human bird flu vaccine.
Under the agreement, Indonesia will provide H5N1 virus samples in exchange for Baxter's expertise in vaccine production.
Other organizations, including the WHO, would only have access to Indonesian samples provided they agree not to pass them on to commercial vaccine makers.
Dr. Triono Soendoro, the head of Indonesia's National Institute for Health Research and Development, said the move was designed to ensure the country's 220 million people received access to a vaccine in the event of a human pandemic.
"We made the deal so we don't have to purchase the vaccines at market price," he said in an interview on Wednesday with The Associated Press.
The decision was a major departure from the WHO's existing virus-sharing system, where bird flu viruses are freely shared with the global community for public health purposes, including vaccine and antiviral development.
Some experts said they sympathized with Indonesia, but nevertheless warned the move could jeopardize the world's access to a pandemic vaccine, if Indonesia became the epicenter of a global outbreak -- a scenario many people feel is likely.
"We feel we have been treated unfairly by the system, the system need to be revised," Soendoro said.
Soendoro said the WHO could have access to bird flu strains if the agency signed an agreement that it would not pass them on to commercial vaccine makers.
"We maintain that (the virus sharing mechanism) has been misused for commercial purposes," said Soendoro. "Why does it hesitate in signing such an agreement?"
Other countries, including China, Thailand and Vietnam, have previously stalled on sharing viruses as they do not want to see their populations dangerously vulnerable -- while rich countries add to their vaccine stockpiles.
Several countries are developing vaccines to protect against H5N1, the strain of bird flu responsible for at least 166 human deaths around the world, around one-third of them in Indonesia.
The virus remains essentially an animal disease, but experts fear it may mutate into a form easily spreadable between humans and trigger a global pandemic, possibly killing millions.
The vaccines currently under production may offer some protection against any pandemic strain, but there is no guarantee. Experts say it could take six months before they could be adjusted to provide full protection if there is a pandemic.
Supari said WHO's top bird flu officials, Dr. Keiji Fukuda and Dr. David Heymann, will be in Jakarta to resolve the vaccine row on Friday.
JAKARTA, Indonesia
Indonesia will not share bird flu samples with the World Health Organization until the U.N. body agrees to stop providing the strains to commercial vaccine makers without its permission, the health minister said Thursday.
Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari made the comments ahead of high-level talks with WHO bird flu officials on Friday about the government's refusal to share its H5N1 strain with foreign laboratories.
The country hardest hit by bird flu is worried drug companies will use its virus to make vaccines that will ultimately be unaffordable to developing nations.
Supari said Indonesia moved to act after an Australian company developed a vaccine using Indonesian samples sent to a WHO center for diagnostic confirmation "without our permission."
Indonesia triggered a storm of criticism last week when it signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S. drug manufacturer Baxter Healthcare Corp. to develop a human bird flu vaccine.
Under the agreement, Indonesia will provide H5N1 virus samples in exchange for Baxter's expertise in vaccine production.
Other organizations, including the WHO, would only have access to Indonesian samples provided they agree not to pass them on to commercial vaccine makers.
Dr. Triono Soendoro, the head of Indonesia's National Institute for Health Research and Development, said the move was designed to ensure the country's 220 million people received access to a vaccine in the event of a human pandemic.
"We made the deal so we don't have to purchase the vaccines at market price," he said in an interview on Wednesday with The Associated Press.
The decision was a major departure from the WHO's existing virus-sharing system, where bird flu viruses are freely shared with the global community for public health purposes, including vaccine and antiviral development.
Some experts said they sympathized with Indonesia, but nevertheless warned the move could jeopardize the world's access to a pandemic vaccine, if Indonesia became the epicenter of a global outbreak -- a scenario many people feel is likely.
"We feel we have been treated unfairly by the system, the system need to be revised," Soendoro said.
Soendoro said the WHO could have access to bird flu strains if the agency signed an agreement that it would not pass them on to commercial vaccine makers.
"We maintain that (the virus sharing mechanism) has been misused for commercial purposes," said Soendoro. "Why does it hesitate in signing such an agreement?"
Other countries, including China, Thailand and Vietnam, have previously stalled on sharing viruses as they do not want to see their populations dangerously vulnerable -- while rich countries add to their vaccine stockpiles.
Several countries are developing vaccines to protect against H5N1, the strain of bird flu responsible for at least 166 human deaths around the world, around one-third of them in Indonesia.
The virus remains essentially an animal disease, but experts fear it may mutate into a form easily spreadable between humans and trigger a global pandemic, possibly killing millions.
The vaccines currently under production may offer some protection against any pandemic strain, but there is no guarantee. Experts say it could take six months before they could be adjusted to provide full protection if there is a pandemic.
Supari said WHO's top bird flu officials, Dr. Keiji Fukuda and Dr. David Heymann, will be in Jakarta to resolve the vaccine row on Friday.
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