UN to discuss swine flu vaccine

Confirmed cases of swine flu in Japan have climbed rapidly UN chief Ban Ki-moon is to meet top pharmaceutical firms to discuss the production of a swine flu vaccine. Together with World Health Organization (WHO) head Margaret Chan, he is set to ask for commitments over the scale and cost of vaccine production. There is concern about the global distribution of a possible vaccine after wealthy states pre-ordered large stocks, correspondents say. Meanwhile, Japan has confirmed dozens more cases of the flu.The new cases brought the total number of people to have caught the virus in Japan to 173.Japanese media say the new wave in infections makes Japan the fourth-most infected country in the world, after Mexico, the US and Canada. 'Debate not happening' In Geneva, Mr Ban will be looking for a commitment to increase capacity and to produce vaccines at a fair price, the BBC's Imogen Foulkes reports.Pharmaceutical companies are committed to producing a seasonal flu vaccine and somehow capacity has to be found to produce an affordable swine flu vaccine as well, she says.Rich countries like Britain and the US have pre-ordered vast stocks of such a vaccine before a single dose has been produced, leading to concerns about future global supplies.Michele Childs of the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) said that wealthy countries were "putting in place these agreements with vaccine manufacturers to basically jump the queue"."What needs to be done is all of the countries need to agree how it will be equably shared, based on need, so if one country has got a huge outbreak then they need to be getting the vaccines first," she said."But that debate is not happening."In Japan the number of swine flu cases has continued to rise rapidly.Officials doubled the closures of schools and universities in Hyogo and Osaka on Tuesday, bringing the total to more than 4,000.Just four cases had been confirmed in Japan as of Friday - people who had returned from Canada.The first case in someone who had not been abroad - a 17-year-old student in Kobe - was reported on Saturday.None of the patients in the new wave of Japanese infections were reported to be in serious condition.