Speaking at a summit on swine flu, the WHO stated universal access to a swine flu vaccine still remains a “critical question”.
A swine flu vaccine is likely to be available in three or four months, but it could take up to a year before sufficient quantities are produced. The laboratories working to produce the vaccine can make 2.5 billion doses in six months.
But there are fears that most of the stock that will be produced has already been reserved by the United States and European countries.WHO assistant director-general Keiji Fukuda said that guaranteeing the vaccine is distributed to underdeveloped nations will require “political goodwill.”
Laboratories are looking at creating a vaccine by adding components used in seasonal flu vaccines. If it works, the method could triple production of the swine flu vaccine.