JAKARTA, Indonesia - 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 countries needed guarantees 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 said late Thursday 12 samples from recent bird flu patients were sent Tuesday to the WHO-affiliated U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
"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.
Supari has been calling for WHO to change its 50-year-old influenza virus-sharing system so developing countries that hand over samples retain the rights to any vaccines produced from them.
Currently, poor countries are obliged to send samples to WHO, which then makes them available to pharmaceutical companies to use in vaccine production. Wealthy countries have stockpiled tonnes of bird flu vaccines, while Indonesia has limited supplies.
WHO and Indonesia have engaged in numerous rounds of talks trying to find a solution that would ensure developing countries have equal access to a pandemic vaccine at an affordable price.
Indonesia has recorded 105 deaths from bird flu, almost half the global tally, WHO said.
Bird flu remains hard for people to catch but health experts worry the virus could mutate into a form that passes easily among humans, sparking a pandemic. So far, most human cases have been linked to contact with infected birds.
Scientists have warned Indonesia, which has millions of backyard chickens and poor medical facilities, is a potential hot spot for a global bird flu pandemic.
