Manufacturing capacity of H1N1 vaccine inadequate: WHO

The manufacturing capacity for the influenza vaccines is inadequate for a world of 6.8 billion people, nearly all of whom are susceptible to infection by the new H1N1 virus, a top official of the World Health Organisation said today.  

Addressing a Conference on Intellectual Property and Public Policy Issues organised by the World Intellectual Property Organisation in Geneva, WHO Director General Margaret Chan said most of these limited supplies would go to wealthy countries, apprehending that people in the rest part of the world might not get access to the vaccine.  

In her statement, Chan said the ideal vaccine would be one that protects against seasonal influenza viruses as well as a range of candidate pandemic viruses. Transcripts of her speech were made available at the UN headquarters here.  

WHO's Director-General encouraged the research and development sector, as well as academics, to work on such an innovation — calling this the "best and most rational insurance policy for increasing supplies and encouraging more equitable access"; the UN spokesman Michele Montas said briefing UN reporters.

Noting that there is the need for innovation, Chan said: "This shortfall in vaccine supplies, in the face of universal need, is the result of limited global manufacturing capacity. It is not, in essence, a result of intellectual property issues."  

Observing the ability to pay, whether at the individual or the national level, remains a distinct advantage, she added: "In the field of health, public policy will remain imperfect as long as access to life-saving interventions is biased in favor of affluence."  

In this regard, Chan highlighted the resolution on public health, innovation and intellectual property adopted by the World Health Assembly in May that resulted in a global strategy and plan of action to make health care products more accessible and affordable, especially in the developing world.  

"The agreement on a global strategy and plan of action demonstrates that the forces that govern the development and pricing of medical products can indeed be steered in directions that favour more equitable access to medicines," she said.