WHO fails to strike deal on sharing vaccines or data

The international community has failed to agree on a swine flu plan to share virus research information and stocks of vaccines in the event of a global pandemic.

An intergovernmental World Health Organization meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, ended with a consensus on most issues, but left data-sharing between laboratories and intellectual property rights on viruses unresolved.

At the time, Indonesia raised the issue of sharing vaccines between industrialized and developing countries, which do not have the means to produce enough doses in the event of a global pandemic. Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  Swine flu is transmitted from pigs to people and vice versa