US Federal health officials said today they have persuaded drug makers to speed delivery of medications to fight influenza, including a possible bird flu pandemic, as part of $7.1 billion plan they also hope will modernize the vaccine industry.
The officials had to defend their flu plan to members of Congress who criticized the government for moving too slowly.
The plan, announced by President George W. Bush yesterday, focuses on building stockpiles of drugs, encouraging companies to develop vaccines and asks states to step up with substantial contributions of their own.
Mr Bush's plan comes amid fears that H5N1 avian flu will mutate into a form that can easily infect and pass among people, causing a pandemic. It already has infected 122 people and killed 62 in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia while becoming entrenched in poultry flocks across much of Asia and into Europe.
Experts say there will be no stopping the bird flu because there is no cure, an experimental vaccine will help only a little and drugs that can help control it are in scarce supply. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee's Labor, Health and Human Services subcommittee to discuss the plan.
He was accompanied by Centers for Disease Control Director Dr. Julie Gerberding, Dr. Bruce Gellin, who heads the HHS pandemic planning effort, and other aides.
Mr Leavitt said Roche AG, maker of the vaccine Tamiflu, and GlaxoSmithKline, which makes Relenza, would be able to deliver on promises to make more of the drugs.
"We have vendor representations that they can deliver, as part of our stockpiling effort, 20 million courses by the fourth quarter of 2006 and up to 81 million courses by the summer of 2007," Mr Leavitt told reporters in a telephone briefing.
The 81 million would represent roughly a quarter of the population - a figure the World Health Organization has suggested as a target for countries to use in preparing for an influenza pandemic.