Plan to set up vaccine plant
Singapore prepares for possible pandemic
NST, 23 Nov 2005

SINGAPORE, Tues. --- Singapore is considering building its own vaccine production plant as part of preparations for a possible global flu pandemic, despite concerns about costs, a report said today.

“It is related to the economics of it. Unless it is a viable proposition, who wants to sink hundreds of millions of dollars building vaccine factories?” Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan was quoted as saying by The Straits Times.

“But we may think it is strategic to want to set up, somehow, some local production capability”. Scientists fear that  if  the  deadly  H5N1  strain of the

bird flu virus manages to mutate into a form that is easily transmissible between humans, millions of people would die in a worst-case scenario.

This has sparked a rush for vaccines globally and Singapore is no exception.

According to Khaw, another 40,000 doses of flu vaccine would be shipped into the city-state soon after 210,000 doses were sold this year.

The Indonesian Health Ministry said the number of human bird flu cases in the country was likely far higher than reported because of poor surveillance outside the capital.

There have been 11 confirmed cases of bird flu in Indonesia since July, seven of them fatal. All but two occurred in the greater Jakarta area.

“Jakarta is better at detecting cases”, said Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari when asked about the concentration in the capital. “I’m afraid that there are also many cases in other areas that are undetected”. --- Agencies.