UN, WHO Set To Meet With Vaccine Manufacturers
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has scheduled a meeting with leaders of the pharmaceutical industry this week to discuss production and distribution of the swine flu vaccine.
Mr. Ban and World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan are expected to ask vaccine manufacturers to make specific commitments on both the cost and amount of treatments scheduled to be produced in the coming months.
Both leaders are also expected to address widespread concerns that wealthier nations “” many of which have already pre-ordered large stockpiles of vaccines “” will hoard supplies of the treatment at the expense of poorer, underdeveloped nations.
At the meeting, set to take place in Geneva, experts say that Mr. Ban will be urging the drug companies to increase production capacity and to offer the vaccines at a fair price.
The biggest obstacle, however, may be one of logistics. As the pharmaceutical firms have committed to producing vaccines for both the seasonal flu strain as well the new H1N1 swine flu, industry experts say that the limits of their production capacity are being stretched to the limits.
Developed countries such as the US, England and France have all pre-ordered millions of vaccine treatment packs, causing concern amongst many governments and humanitarian organizations alike that poorer countries may not see supplies of the vaccine in time to do any good.
Michele Childs of the charity group Doctors Without Borders has said that rich countries have essentially been able to “jump the queue” by pre-ordering large quantities of the vaccine.
“What needs to be done is all of the countries need to agree how it will be equably shared, based on need, so if one country has got a huge outbreak then they need to be getting the vaccines first,” she said.
“But that debate is not happening.”
Meanwhile, Japan has seen a small explosion in its rate of swine flu infections in recent days, as dozens of new cases have were confirmed over the weekend. As the country’s total number of infections climbed to 173 yesterday, Japanese media outlets observed that the country now has the world’s fourth-highest tally of confirmed cases, after the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
In efforts to contain the spread, authorities announced on Tuesday that they would double the number school and university closures in Hyogo and Osaka, bringing the total number of closed learning institutions to more than 4,000.
Prior to the weekend, Japan had only confirmed 4 cases of the virus””all in travelers who had recently returned from Canada.
Nevertheless, health officials say they are encouraged by the fact that none of the patients has exhibited serious symptoms.
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Image Caption: CDC developed PCR diagnostic test to detect novel H1N1 virus. Photo: CDC/Greg Sykes/ATCC
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