South America's 12 nations on Saturday pledged to respect regional vaccine price ceilings to prevent businesses from exploiting fear of the H1N1 flu pandemic, Ecuador's Health Minister Caroline Chang said, Reuters reported.
"(We) establish a commitment to not buy individually, above the prices set by the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) ... to prevent commercial interests from taking advantage of pandemic panic," she said, summarizing the conclusions of a meeting of the region's health ministries, called to map out a strategy to fight the pandemic.
The region needs 200 million flu vaccine doses, she said.
Chang said South America backed what she said was the World Health Organization's negotiations with pharmaceutical companies and rich "First World" countries to ensure those most vulnerable have access to the vaccine under development.
The WHO recently reported 162,230 confirmed cases and 1,154 deaths globally from the H1N1 virus.
The H1N1 outbreak, it says, could eventually affect 2 billion people and is seeking to speed vaccines to market.
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The governments signing the Quito statement are members of the South American National Union, or UNASUR, which groups Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Surinam, Guyana, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Venezuela.
The Washington-based PAHO says there are a total of 102,105 confirmed cases of the virus in the Western Hemisphere.
The PAHO, a 35-nation regional arm of the WHO, runs a fund to buy vaccines for the Americas and posts the prices it paid.
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