August 21, 2007

Indonesia offers Japan its cooperation in producing bird flu vaccine

Indonesia offered Japan on Monday (Aug 20) to cooperate in producing anti-bird flu vaccine developed from the strain of H5N1 virus.

Japan had said it would provide 1.7 billion yen (US$14.8 million) to help Indonesia fight the virus.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made the statement during a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shizo Abe.

The president said that they had agreed to jointly fight the disease, which has killed 319 people around the world. Indonesia was the hardest-hit country by bird flu, with 89 fatalities.

President Susilo said he has offered Prime Minister Abe a bilateral cooperation for developing vaccine from the strain of virus in Indonesia.

Previously, Indonesia had a fallout with the WHO over the handling of its virus samples. The country believed foreign companies were taking the samples to develop vaccines that would be sold back to Indonesians at high prices.