WHO calls for imediate and sustained action to increase pandemic flu vaccine supply

A set of activities identified in the World Health Organization's new Global Pandemic influenza action plan to increase vaccine supply requires immediate and sustained action and funding, if the world is to be prepared for an influenza pandemic to which there would be almost universal susceptibility, says the WHO.

Marie-Paule Kieny, Director of the WHO's Initiative for Vaccine Research, said: "we are presently several billion doses short of the amount of pandemic influenza vaccine we would need to protect the global population. This situation could lead to a public health crisis."

Dr Kieny continued: "the Global Action Plan sets the course for what needs to be done, starting now, to increase vaccine production capacity and close the gap. In just three to five years we could begin to see results that could save many lives in case of a pandemic."