A vaccine for the bird flu rampaging through Asia is more than six months away, a World Health Organization (WHO) spokesman predicted yesterday, as hard-hit Thailand enlisted hundreds of soldiers to help battle the disease by slaughtering hundreds of thousands of chickens.
Faced with accusations that he covered up the outbreak, Thailand's prime minister said his government had suspected that bird flu had struck his nation a "couple of weeks" ago. But he didn't tell the public because he feared mass panic.
Vietnam and Thailand are the only countries this year where humans have caught the avian flu, with six confirmed deaths in Vietnam and one suspected fatality in Thailand. The virus has affected millions of chickens in six Asian nations and has put the entire region -- already worried about SARS -- on a health alert.
Recently the WHO raised hopes that a prototype bird flu vaccine would be ready in four weeks' time. But the UN health agency said on its Web site yesterday its fears that the virus would mutate had come true, slowing up work on a vaccine.
"I don't think we're looking at a workable vaccine within six months. That's too late for the influenza season in Asia but it would be available," Peter Cordingley, the WHO spokesman for the region, told a reporter in Manila, the Philippines.
"It could be available for next winter's flu season ... It's not promising this year," he added.
Human victims have been infected directly from chickens. But scientists fear that the disease might combine with a regular human influenza virus, making person-to-person infection possible. This then could trigger a new human flu pandemic -- worse that last year's SARS outbreak that killed more than 700 people.
The WHO has said the strains of bird flu seen this year, in both humans and chickens, have mutated, indicating how adaptable the virus is. Still, no person-to-person transmissions have been reported yet.
Governments in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan have ordered mass chicken culls to combat the spread of the virus.
Hundreds of Thai soldiers in protective gear were being bused into hardest-hit Suphanburi province to assist in the chicken slaughter.
The outbreak has ravaged Thailand's chicken export industry, particularly small poultry farmers.
Thaksin was visiting Suphanburi to meet with hundreds of angry chicken farmers, many alleging his government knew that bird flu had emerged but attempted a cover up to protect the industry. Until Friday, the government had insisted that the birds were sick with other diseases.
Yesterday, Thaksin acknowledged that officials suspected a bird flu outbreak for some time.
"We have suspected this [bird flu outbreak] for about a couple of weeks," Thaksin said.
Asked why he failed to inform the public of the government's concerns, he said: "At that time, when it's not bird flu, how can you tell them it's bird flu?"
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS