PHA-Exchange> Global solidarity needed in preparing for pandemic influenza

[Claudio]

From: "Vern Weitzel" <vern at coombs.anu.edu.au>

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673607602451/fulltext

The Lancet 2007; 369:532

Editorial

Global solidarity needed in preparing for pandemic influenza

Vaccines will be one of the most important medical interventions for 
reducing morbidity and
mortality in an influenza pandemic. The development of H5N1 vaccines to 
protect people in a pandemic
is underway in several countries. But two disturbing problems about vaccine 
availability and
accessibility exist.

To protect the global population, 6·2 billion doses of pandemic vaccine will 
be needed, but under
current manufacturing capacity the world can only produce 500 million doses. 
And, in a pandemic, it
is industrialised countries that will have access to available vaccines, 
whereas developing
countries—where a pandemic is likely to emerge—will be left wanting. In 
November, 2004, a WHO
consultation reached the depressing conclusion that most developing 
countries would have no access
to vaccine during the first wave of a pandemic and possibly throughout its 
duration.

In this context, Indonesia's move last week to try and secure an affordable 
vaccine supply for its
population is understandable. Since the beginning of this year, the country 
has made a controversial
decision not to share its H5N1 virus samples with WHO. Indonesia is instead 
planning to provide a US
pharmaceutical company with the strains in exchange for technology to 
manufacture a pandemic vaccine.

This strategy is a marked departure from the existing WHO virus-sharing 
system, in which influenza
viruses are donated by countries and flow freely to the global community for 
vaccine development.
Indonesia fears that vaccines produced from their viruses via the WHO system 
will not be affordable
to them. Their concerns are forcing the world to address this inequity 
problem.

The fairest way forward would be for WHO to seek an international agreement 
that would ensure that
developing countries have equal access to a pandemic vaccine, at an 
affordable price. Such a move
would demonstrate global solidarity in preparing for the next pandemic.
The Lancet