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Indonesia says bird flu virus-sharing battle not about money
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 24 - 04 - 2008


Indonesia says it does not want
money for its bird flu virus samples _ it wants governments
and pharmaceutical companies to come up with a mechanism
that will ensure future pandemic vaccines are accessible to
developing nations.
That could include creating a multilateral trust that
would enable price tiering or bulk purchasing of lifesaving
vaccines, an adviser to Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari
said Wednesday.
Widjaja Lukito was responding to comments made by U.S.
Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, who
accused Indonesia of withholding virus samples from the
World Health Organization since early 2007 because it
wanted royalties or other monetary benefits.
«This is not a line we want to cross,» Leavitt told The
Associated Press at the end of a quick stopover in
Indonesia last week. «Because it means the next unique
virus we come across, wherever it is, we'll end up with
people who say there is a price to pay for the virus.»
He repeated the allegation on his blog, saying Supari's
bottom line appeared to be «share samples, get paid.»
Indonesia _ seen as a potential hotspot for a pandemic
because of its high density of chickens and humans _ denied
that was the case. Lukito said he thought there may have
been poor communication on both sides.
«There are many types of benefit programs that can be
discussed,» he said, noting that the U.S. and Indonesia
agreed during Leavitt's visit to set up an expert panel on
the issue. «One could be a kind of revolving fund
developed by pharmaceutical companies.»
Another, Lukito said, could be to create a multilateral
trust _ funded by contributions from governments, influenza
vaccine manufacturers and individuals _ to make sure
vaccines could be produced and distributed in a fair and
equitable manner.
Suggestions at a WHO meeting in Geneva late last year
included tiered pricing of vaccines, bulk purchasing, and
other procurement mechanisms that take into consideration
how much governments could afford for vaccines, he said.
U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, Cameron R. Hume, meanwhile,
appeared to play down claims by Leavitt that Indonesia was
trying to put a price tag on its H5N1 virus samples.
«Frankly, I think Indonesia's basic concern is that you
have a very high mortality rate from avian influenza
here,» with nearly 80 percent of all humans infected
dying, he said. «They are concerned about trying to be
sure ... Indonesians don't face this totally unacceptable
risk of death.»
Indonesia has been hardest hit by bird flu since it began
plaguing Asian poultry stocks in late 2003, with its 107
human deaths accounting for nearly half the 240 recorded
fatalities worldwide. The virus remains hard for people to
catch, but scientists worry it could mutate into a form
that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a
pandemic that could kill millions.
Under the existing virus-sharing system, poor countries
are obliged to send samples to WHO, which then makes them
available to a handful of pharmaceutical companies to use
in vaccine production. Wealthy nations have stockpiled tons
of bird flu vaccines, while Indonesia and other developing
countries have limited supplies.
Many international health experts said Supari had a point
when she bucked WHO's decades-old virus sharing system. But
by withholding bird flu samples, health experts note, she
is impeding the global body's ability to monitor whether
the virus is morphing into a more dangerous form.
Leavitt wrote in his blog April 15 that his patience was
wearing thin.
«There are some situations that, despite our best
efforts, we cannot resolve,» he said, vowing to give
Indonesia another two months to work toward a solution.
«In those cases, we just live with the added risk. The
cost of Indonesia's refusal to share influenza samples is
incrementally small. However, the damage done by accepting
Indonesias view is profound, and simply unacceptable.»


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