By Kevin Noonan
The Indonesian health ministry agreed to resume supplying samples of H5N1 influenza virus to the World Health Organization, having received assurances from the agency that affordably flu vaccines would be made available to Indonesia and other poor countries, The New York Times reported Saturday.
Earlier, Indonesia had suspended these supplies, complaining that they were not going to give the samples away for free, only to have Western companies use them to make flu vaccine its citizens couldn't afford. See "Postscript: When Flu Is for Sale, Who Should Pay?"
Samples will not be provided until Indonesia is guaranteed access to "affordable" vaccines, something that will be worked out among WHO and several Asian nations some time next month.
The arrangement was negotiated by Dr. David L. Heymann, WHO chief of communicable diseases, who said he had been assured that Indonesia would not "hold WHO hostage to the virus," according to wire service reports. Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari confirmed that Indonesia agrees to "responsible sharing practices" that would commence "soon."
This settles for now the dispute between Indonesia and the West about inequities involved in poor countries providing biological samples used by Western companies to make vaccines unaffordable in those poor countries. It remains to be seen whether WHO and Indonesia can work out the issues, particularly in view of the necessity of getting cooperation from company representatives ultimately responsible for producing the vaccines.
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