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Jakarta tells WHO to restrict bird flu samples

Indonesia defended its decision to stop sharing bird flu samples with the WHO, saying it would resume cooperation only when the agency stopped providing the strains to commercial vaccine makers.

The country worst hit by bird flu triggered a storm of criticism last week when it signed a memorandum of understanding with US drug manufacturer Baxter Healthcare to develop a human bird flu vaccine.

Under the pact, Indonesia will provide H5N1 virus samples in exchange for Baxter's expertise in vaccine production. Other organizations, including the WHO, would only have access to Indonesian samples provided they agree not to pass them on to commercial vaccine makers.

Triono Soendoro, the head of Indonesia's National Institute for Health Research and Development, said the move was designed to ensure the country's 220 million people received access to a vaccine in the event of a human pandemic.

"We made the deal so we don't have to purchase the vaccines at market price," he said told reporters on Wednesday.

The decision was a major departure from the WHO's existing virus-sharing system, where bird flu viruses are freely shared with the global community for public health purposes, including vaccine and antiviral development.

Some experts said they sympathized with Indonesia, but nevertheless warned the move could jeopardize the world's access to a pandemic vaccine, if Indonesia became the epicenter of a global outbreak -- a scenario many people feel was likely.

"We feel we have been treated unfairly by the system, the system needs to be revised," Soendoro said.

WHO officials have said the agency plans talks with Indonesia and vaccine makers to find a solution to the standoff.

Soendoro said the WHO could have access to bird flu strains if the agency signed an agreement that it would not pass them on to commercial vaccine makers.

"We maintain that [the virus sharing mechanism] has been misused for commercial purposes," Soendoro said. "Why does it hesitate in signing such an agreement?"

Other countries such as China have previously stalled on sharing viruses for fear the vaccines and drugs produced from their viruses would be unaffordable for them.
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