Indonesia makes money selling bird flu virus samples
February 7, 2007 by Grace Ibay
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
I’ve seen scams where someone makes money out of other people’s tragedies. You know the lot. But I’ve never seen a country actually get into this “game”.
Until Indonesia. And bird flu.
The World Health Organization revealed that Indonesia has stopped sharing bird flu samples since January of this year in antipication of a vaccine deal with Baxter International.
Since the bird flu outbreaks began, countries have been sharing viral samples with WHO to keep track of small genetic mutation and catch emergent strains that could cause a serious human flu epidemic.
Indonesia and other poor countries feels slighted by the system of sharing because the viruses are often used to make vaccines that only benefit countries that can afford them. So now, Indonesia wants to claim intellectual property rights over the strains of the H5N1 virus discovered in the country.
“Their concern,” Dr. Heymann said, “is that their strains have been used by several manufacturers to produce vaccines, and that Indonesia should get some compensation. From their point of view, it’s understandable.”
“We cannot share (virus) samples for free. There should be rules of the game for it,” a health ministry spokeswoman was quoted by news agency Reuters.
Ok, so the vaccines do need to be shared with poor countries (who also happen to suffer most from the outbreaks) but I don’t get why Indonesia would cut off supplying the WHO with information that could help stop this virus. After all, the country has the biggest human case fatality at 70% and have continuing problems controlling the spread of the virus. It’s like telling the world that they can solve the problem themselves, thank you.
Sources:
Indonesia to stop sharing bird flu samples
Indonesia May Sell, Not Give, Bird Flu Virus to Scientists
Tags: H5N1, bird flu, Indonesia, World Health Organization, Baxter International
