August 10, 2006

Russia allocates US$50 million for anti-bird flu measures

The Russian government has approved a 1.305 billion rubles (US$50 million) plan to counter bird flu in 2006, the government press service reported on Wednesday (Aug 9).

Nearly 430 million rubles (US$16 million) would be used to produce a vaccine and its inoculation of poultry at private farms. Another 200 million rubles (US$8.1 million) would be spent on building up vaccine stocks and 242 million rubles (US$9 million)  more for creating a supply of antiviral medicines for high-risk groups of people such as poultry workers, veterinarians and medical workers.