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.
In a market in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, customers flock to Ache Moussa’s stall to have their long plaits smeared with a special paste in an age-old ritual. Each strand of hair, from the root to the end, is slathered in a traditional mixture of cherry seeds, cloves and chebe seeds, the most important ingredient of all. Users say the recipe makes their hair grow longer and more lustrous. Local and natural hair products are gaining popularity across Africa as people turn away from commercial cosmetics. Moussa applies the mixture and shapes the client’s locks into a gourone — a traditional hairstyle consisting of
The US yesterday wrapped up its first multidomain exercise with Japan and South Korea in the East China Sea, a step forward in Washington’s efforts to enhance and lock in its security partnerships with key Asian allies in the face of growing threats from North Korea and China. The three-day Freedom Edge increased the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval drills geared toward improving joint ballistic-missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other skills and capabilities. The exercise, which is expected to expand in years to come, was also intended to improve the countries’ abilities to share missile warnings —
‘ONE FELL SWOOP’: Overturning a landmark ruling that said judges should defer to experts would ‘cause a massive shock to the legal system,’ a dissenting opinion said Prosecutors overstepped in charging Jan. 6, 2021, rioters with obstruction for trying to prevent certification of the 2020 presidential election, the US Supreme Court said on Friday, throwing hundreds of cases into doubt, while another controversial ruling struck down 40 years of legal precedent on federal agencies’ ability to regulate critical issues. The matter was brought to the court through an appeal by former police officer Joseph Fischer, a supporter of former US president Donald Trump who entered the Capitol with hundreds of others in 2021. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said prosecutors’ interpretation of the law would “criminalize
‘APOCALYPTIC : An UN official said that Lebanon was ‘the flashpoint beyond all flashpoints,’ and a conflict that involved it would draw in Syria and other nations Israel on Wednesday said that it does not want war in Lebanon, but could send its neighbor “back to the Stone Age.” The border between the two countries has seen daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants since the attack on Israel by Hezbollah’s ally Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which triggered the war in Gaza. Fears those exchanges could escalate have grown in the past few weeks as cross-border attacks intensified and after Israel revealed it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive, prompting new threats from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said