Tuesday, July 14, 2009

WHO Chief Says Not Enough Swine Flu Vaccine Available

14 July 2009
The head of the World Health Organization says the world's capacity for making enough swine flu vaccine for nearly seven billion people is "woefully inadequate."

Margaret Chan said at a Geneva conference Tuesday that almost everyone on the planet is susceptible to the H1N1 swine flu virus.

But she said most of the limited supply of the vaccine will go to wealthy countries, calling it an example of life-saving intervention biased towards affluence.

Chan called for more innovation in developing new medicines to ensure everyone gets the vaccine.

WHO officials have said they believe the first mass vaccines will be available by September and that health care providers should get inoculated first.

The latest WHO report confirms nearly 95,000 swine flu cases worldwide with 429 deaths.

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