Indonesia sends bird flu samples to WHO, signaling standoff may be over

Fri, 02/22/2008 11:38 AM  |  Headlines

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesia sent 12 bird flu samples to a World Health Organization laboratory this week after receiving assurances its rights to any vaccines produced from them would be recognized, the health minister said.

Indonesia had been refusing to send samples to WHO since January 2007, saying poor nations needed guarantees that any pandemic vaccines developed from the virus would be affordable and available to them.

It was unclear whether Indonesia would now routinely share samples, a move that would effectively end a standoff that experts have said could jeopardize global efforts to battle bird flu.

Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari told The Associated Press late Thursday that 12 samples from recent bird flu patients were sent on Tuesday to the WHO-affiliated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the United States.

"This is just for risk assessment," Supari said. "If they want to develop them into a seed virus they must notify us. If they make them into a vaccine our rights over (the vaccine) will be recognized." She did not elaborate.

WHO officials in Jakarta declined immediate comment on her statement. (***)

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