The World Health Organization is working on a scheme to make H1N1 SwineFlu vaccines available to poor countries. WHO has just completed asurvey of more than 60 developing countries to learn from them how bestto help them prepare for the H1N1 pandemic.

For now, the H1N1 swineflu pandemic is relatively mild. But, the World Health Organizationwarns it might become more severe. It says countries must be preparedfor the possibility that the virus will mutate becoming more virulent.

Dr. David Nabarro (file photo)AssistantU.N. Secretary-General and U.N. Coordinator on Avian and PandemicInfluenza, David Nabarro says the pandemic could last two years, sonations must be prepared for the long haul.  

He says U.N.agencies are working on a plan to support developing countries get thehelp they need to protect their populations from the pandemic. He saysthe plan is based on the priorities expressed by the countriesthemselves.

He says the plan aims to prevent excess mortality,keep the negative social impact from the disease to a minimum and makehealth systems stronger so countries can protect themselves from thecurrent and future pandemics.

He says poor countries want accessto H1N1 vaccines and anti-virals such as Tamiflu. He says given theshortage of the vaccine, it is necessary to establish a system thatwill enable all countries to get a basic share of the available vaccine.

"Therewill be a system established through which around 10 percent of worldvaccine production and anti-H1N1 vaccine production will be obtained byWHO and made available to countries on a basis that is proportional totheir populations for them primarily to protect health care personneland other essential workers," said Dr. Nabarro. "And, then once thathas been set up and established, countries will be supported to do thisand also to access vaccine to help protect other high riskindividuals."  

Nabarro says nine countries so far have pledgedto donate 10 percent of their stock of H1N1 vaccines to the WorldHealth Organization for distribution to poor countries. He says othercountries also are expected to join in.

Besides this, he saysWHO is soliciting vaccine donations from a number of pharmaceuticalcompanies and is prepared to buy vaccines at a low price to fill in anygaps.

To date, WHO reportedly has received 150 million vaccinedonations from manufacturers, plus another 50 million doses from thenine countries. The health agency says it would like to have astockpile of 300 million doses of the vaccine.

Dr. Nabarro saysit is difficult to know how WHO will allocate scarce supplies ofvaccine among the developing countries in a fair and equitable manner.

"Thejudgment that will be made by WHO will be around a set of issues thathave to be considered," he said. "One will be what is the pandemicdoing, where is it going, who is it affecting, the kind ofepidemiological data. How ready is a country to be able to administerthe vaccine to the group that is being prioritized."  

Nabarrosays countries also will have to fulfill a number of legal requirementson liability and licensing. He notes this is the normal procedure withany medicine and other preparation that is donated.  

About 25different manufacturers are reportedly set to donate or sell low-costvaccines to WHO.  Health officials say each country will receivevaccines from one specific company In order to avoid confusion and tosimplify the monitoring process.