Call for increased effort on vaccines
Call for increased effort on vaccines
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Tuesday, 09, May 2006 08:28
Representatives of Europe's top scientists have called for better collaboration and fewer obstacles to aid vaccine research.
A report by Easac, an umbrella body for the national science academies of the EU, including the Royal Society, also called for better leadership to develop and distribute vaccines.
"Vaccines are a crucial part of the armoury for dealing with infectious diseases," said Dr Volker ter Meulen, chairman of the working group. "The European Commission, parliament and centre for disease control need to give better leadership in developing and implementing the strategies for producing and distributing vaccines.
"And the commission should find ways of reducing obstacles to the commercial manufacture of vaccines. As the threat of infectious diseases grows, these matters will become more and more urgent."
Vaccine research and distribution is likely to become a higher priority due to current concerns over bird flu and a potential crossover into humans.
Inside the report were calls for states to work together to identify potential outbreaks, agree what to do in advance and share crucial information.
However, it added that development of vaccines was not usually financially rewarding to pharmaceutical companies which meant that there should be incentives to overcome this obstacle.
It was also deemed that there was a lack of trials by the public sector due to "current strategic weaknesses" that also needed to be addressed.
Only by increasing Europe's efforts over research and countering public fears over vaccines could growing threats from influenza and other diseases be said to be properly tackled.