Government guarantees bird flu vaccine supply

New Zealand will be guaranteed a vaccine against a pandemic of bird flu, should the current H5N1 virus, which has killed thousands of birds and more than 60 people, mutate, says the Ministry of Health.

An agreement with an Australian manufacturer means New Zealand will be supplied with the vaccine once it is developed.

"We have a formal arrangement with Australia's CSL - the only influenza vaccine manufacturer in the Southern Hemisphere - which gives us a guaranteed supply if we need a pandemic vaccine," said director of public health Mark Jacobs.

"It is anticipated that we will get access to a pandemic vaccine within four to six months of the World Health Organisation declaring the existence of a pandemic."

Dr Jacobs said a request for proposals canvassed two options: an H5N1 vaccine and pandemic vaccine.

"We simply won't know until a pandemic emerges how closely the H5N1 vaccine matches the pandemic viruses and therefore how much protection it will offer."

The ministry had done its best to access vaccines, said Dr Jacobs. But "no manufacturer will be able to produce a vaccine that will definitely give protection against pandemic influenza until a pandemic is declared by [the] WHO - it's catch-22."

- NZPA