August 7, 2006

Indonesia to import bird flu vaccine for poultry from China

The Indonesian government has awarded a tender for an import of the H5N2 vaccine for poultry from China, a media report said last week.

State-owned pharmaceutical firm PT Bio Farma received the tender from the Agriculture Ministry for its offer of US$1 million, the lowest among the competing companies, reported The Jakarta Post newspaper.

Imports are expected from a vaccine producer in China within two weeks

Bio-Farma would import the vaccine from Qilu, a vaccine producer in China, according to Bio Farma president Marzuki Abdullah.

H5N2 is one of the 15 known strains of the type A influenza virus found in birds. Although milder than H5N1, it has in the past caused widespread infection in poultry in the US and Mexico.

The company is expected to import 50 million doses of the H5N2 vaccine from China but 48 million more would be needed to conduct a mass vaccination, according to data from the Agriculture ministry.