Making a vaccine for H1N1 flu virus is proving more difficult than first thought, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.
According to vaccine experts convened by WHO last week, the H1N1 flu virus is not growing very fast in laboratories. That's making it difficult for scientists to retrieve a "seed stock" of the virus -- the key ingredient needed for a vaccine.
The WHO reported on its website that flu experts have told them that vaccine manufacturers will not be ready to produce a swine flu vaccine until mid-July at the earliest.
That's much later than the late-May start that WHO officials had previously estimated.
Any new pandemic vaccine would need to be tested first on ferrets and then on humans before regulatory authorities can approve it.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters Tuesday that while the newly-discovered virus strain now appears mild, it needs to be closely watched as it spreads around the world and starts to afflict impoverished countries.
"We may be in a grace period with H1N1 but we are still in the danger zone," Ban said.
Health officials from around the world are attending WHO's annual meeting in Geneva this week to discuss the H1N1 outbreak, which has infected about 10,000 people in over 40 countries; 79 deaths worldwide have been confirmed.
Ban is meeting with executives from 30 unnamed pharmaceutical companies to discuss ways to boost production of seasonal vaccines while also developing a vaccine for possible use against the new strain.
In remarks later to the WHO's World Health Assembly, Ban said it was essential that drug makers work together with governments to fight the H1N1 flu.
"We do not yet know how far and how fast it will spread, how serious the illness will be and, indeed, how many lives will be lost," Ban told the assembly.
Rich and poor countries are hoping to settle disputes during the assembly about how "seed stock" should be shared with pharmaceutical companies, which will use them to sell H1N1 vaccines.
Developing nations including Indonesia have called for restrictions on the powers of drug makers to patent virus samples and then offer vaccines at an unaffordable price.
In his remarks to the World Health Assembly, Ban said poor states with weak medical services could be at particular threat from the flu and will need help from richer countries to reduce the world's exposure to its risks.
"Global solidarity must be at the heart of the world's response."
"It means that virus samples and data are shared. It means that self-defeating restrictions on trade and travel are avoided," he stressed.
Vaccine experts estimate under the best conditions, they could produce nearly 5 billion doses of H1N1 flu vaccine over a year, after beginning full-scale production. In that situation, the UN might have access to up to 400 million doses for poor countries.
The rest of the vaccines would presumably go to wealthy contras who have already signed deals to get the pandemic vaccine as soon as it is available.
