Move by Indonesia may force solution to vaccine sharing inequities

[bluemoon24]

When Indonesia served notice last week it will not co-operate with a pandemic flu vaccine system that doesn't look after the needs of Indonesians, there was little surprise among international observers who have long worried about the deep disparities between pandemic haves and have-nots.



Some think Indonesia's shot across the bow may finally force the world to try to rectify the troubling inequities in pandemic preparations, where developing countries plagued by H5N1 avian flu are pressured to contain their outbreaks and share viruses for the global good - but are crowded out of the costly market for pandemic drugs and vaccines.



"If we are asking the developing world to do its work for us, what are we giving in return?" asks Dr. Ross Upshur, director of the University of Toronto's Joint Centre for Bioethics and a key contributor to a World Health Organization-led effort to find ways to address the ethical problems posed by pandemic influenza planning.



"Yes, there's a global interest in having the viral isolates to create vaccine. But we need to recognize the contribution of those areas that gave them up. Otherwise that's going to be a tit-for-tat game."



Indonesia announced late last week that it would not share H5N1 virus samples with the World Health Organization unless drug companies agreed not to commercialize any vaccines made from sample Indonesian viruses. As vaccine manufacturers are in the business of making and selling vaccines, it's unclear how they could agree to that type of condition.



A clue may lie, however, in a second part of Indonesia's announcement. Indonesia will provide virus samples to vaccine maker Baxter International, which in turn will provide the country with technology to help it develop vaccine domestically.



Kaynak: SağlıkHaber