# 1075
While refusing to share virus samples with the WHO and the greater global community, Indonesia is apparently open to `side deals' with individual countries. At least, if the money is right.
Today Indonesia and Japan have announced a `bilateral cooperation in developing a human vaccine based on the Indonesian strain of the virus'.
This deal with Japan has netted the Indonesians nearly 15 million dollars.
By refusing to donate their virus samples to the WHO, and instead working on private side deals with individual countries, Indonesia is working towards turning a big negative, endemic bird flu, into a profit center for their nation.
Ingenious, I suppose. But a most dangerous game. One that could cost the lives of millions of people, should a pandemic erupt.
Right now, pre-pandemic, Indonesia holds some powerful cards. Those cards will melt away once a pandemic starts. No one will need the virus samples from Indonesia anymore, once it escapes the confines of that country.
I have to wonder if anyone in Indonesia is considering the end-game here? How history, and the rest of the world, will treat them if a pandemic erupts from within their nation while they are withholding virus samples?
It is hard to imagine any short-term financial gain being worth that ultimate cost.
Indonesia, Japan to cooperate on bird flu vaccine
Mon Aug 20, 3:20 AM ET
JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesia has offered to cooperate with Japan in developing a human bird flu vaccine, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Monday during a visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Yudhoyono said the pair had "agreed on cooperation in dealing with avian influenza" during talks in the Indonesian capital.
"I have offered Prime Minister Abe bilateral cooperation in developing a human vaccine based on the Indonesian strain of the virus, for the sake of our welfare and the global interest," he said.
Abe said Tokyo had decided to provide 1.7 billion yen (14.8 million dollars) in aid to help fight avian influenza.
Indonesia is the nation worst hit by the H5N1 virus and has reported 104 confirmed bird flu cases, with 83 deaths.
Jakarta has been rapped by the UN's World Health Organisation for failing to share its samples with the rest of the world, saying it will not formally hand more over until is guaranteed access to affordable medicines to treat victims.
Despite Indonesia's position however, a sample of the virus that killed a woman on Bali last week was sent to a WHO laboratory to allay fears that it has mutated into a form that can be transmitted between humans.
Scientists worry the bird flu virus could mutate into a form easily spread among humans, leading to a global pandemic with the potential to kill millions.
