October 10, 2005

Sub-standard bird flu vaccines used in Indonesia's poultry

Sub-standard poultry vaccines had been used to fight bird flu in Indonesia, an internal audit at Indonesia's agriculture ministry found, with suspected nine corruption cases between 1999 and 2004 causing losses of up to Rp 733 billion, revealed Zainal Baharuddin, inspector general at the ministry.

Corruption in various funds to fight bird flu made up the bulk of the losses, with losses from grafts relating to vaccines estimated at Rp 56.98 billion, he said.

Auditors now suspect that four companies tasked to manufacture bird flu vaccines had produced doses of inferior quality to inflate profits with the assistance of senior officials in the ministry.

Baharuddin revealed that the vaccines had failed to meet Office Internationale des Epizooties (OIE) standards by not using specific pathogen-free eggs, while Agricultural Minister April Aprijantono said that the vaccines produced by these companies only had a low protection level of 11.8-28 percent.

Farmers across the country had also complained that they had not received funds to fight against bird flu because officials had embezzled the money.

Aprijantono has now vowed to fight this corruption in his ministry after the disclosure, saying that the corruption cases had been reported to the attorney general's office.