# 703
Responding to concerns that developing nations would be excluded from receiving pandemic vaccines, the WHO is considering setting aside up to 60 Million doses of vaccine for poorer nations.
WHO may set up bird flu vaccine stockpile for poor
25 Apr 2007 16:10:59 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Stephanie Nebehay and Laura MacInnis
GENEVA, April 25 (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) is considering building a stockpile of up to 60 million vaccine doses to be used by developing nations to counter any influenza pandemic, its top bird flu official said on Wednesday.
The stockpile would address demands from countries led by Indonesia and Thailand who want benefits for sharing samples of the deadly H5N1 virus which are then used to develop commercial vaccines, the WHO's David Heymann said.
Developing countries have suggested that a WHO stockpile should cover roughly 1 percent of their populations, often "essential workers" such as hospital staff and police, he said.
"The ballpark figure for a global stockpile, to be administered by WHO, is 40 to 60 million doses. It is very feasible," Heymann, assistant WHO director-general for communicable diseases, told Reuters on the sidelines of a WHO meeting on increasing access to pandemic influenza vaccines.
