ASEAN could consider establishing the regional development and production of vaccines and antiviral drugs amidst other measures to address pandemic situations in the future. The proposal was made at the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting prior to the ASEAN + 3 Health Ministers’ Special Meeting on Influenza A (H1N1) being convened in Bangkok on 7-8 May 2009.
“Vaccines are one of the prime tools in the face of the pandemic, and there is capacity for vaccine production in the ASEAN + 3 region,” said Dr. Prat Boonyawongvirot, the Permanent Secretary of the Thai Ministry of Public Health. He stressed that there is a feasibility in collaborating to develop and produce a pandemic vaccine whether it was for the H5N1 (avian influenza) or the current Influenza A(H1N1).
This, he said, can be an additional cooperation mechanism apart from the expansion and sharing of the ASEAN stockpile as well as other essential supplies to ensure that all people in ASEAN + 3 countries can have access in a thorough, sufficient and timely manner. Despite having no reported cases of the Influenza A (H1N1) to-date, many of the ASEAN Member States are also planning to increase their central stocks of existing antivirals in readiness of any outbreak in the region.
The need to increase the research capacity in the region was also expressed by some of the other public health officials attending the meeting.
They also recommended the need for greater cooperation among the ASEAN + 3 especially in terms of surveillance and information exchange, diagnostic laboratory capacity and synchronized cross-border disease control measures, including the consideration of exit screenings of travelers from affected areas.
Earlier in the day, the officials participated in a video-conference with the World Health Organization, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Bank on an update of the Influenza A(H1N1) outbreak.
The officials are also preparing a Joint Ministerial Statement on Influenza A(H1N1) to be adopted by their Ministers on 8 May 2009.
