GENEVA: The virus samples are shared worldwide in exchange for vaccines produced from under a landmark agreement to improve preparedness for pandemic influenza, the diplomats of the World Health Organization said Saturday.
Negotiators ended a night session with a draft agreement accepted by all countries including the United States, which was the last to join the consensus, they said.
Health Ministers were expected to adopt the framework agreement, which foresees the participation of the pharmaceutical industry, the WHO annual meeting will be held May 16 to 24
"The negotiations are completed. The framework was agreed," an aid to Mexico Ambassador Juan Jose Gomez Camacho, co-president of closed-door talks, told Reuters.
Countries should share virus samples with WHO laboratory network in exchange for affordable vaccines that result. The industry has pledged to donate medicines and know-how, covering half the annual cost of $ 58 million to boost defenses in the poorest nations, according to senior envoys.
Negotiations began four years ago among 193 members of WHO after the deadly H5N1 avian influenza emerged in South Asia. A year later, Indonesia has stopped sharing samples of flu virus with the WHO network, demanding his share of vaccines.
Indonesia's delegation supported the consensus reached in the round this week, diplomats said.
During the pandemic of swine influenza H1N1 in 2009-2010, many developing countries have complained that they had no life-saving antivirals or vaccines against the new virus.
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