Disturbing Comment By Thailand's WHO Representative ..

[rainman]

I was just reading a bit about Thailand in Wikipedia, then came onto the Wikipedia entry of Surayud Chulanont and scrolled down to see his policies about culture, health, etc. when I saw this quite disturbing comment by Thailand's WHO (World Health Organisation) representative:

Thailand's representative to the World Health Organisation (also special advisor to the public health minister), Dr Suwit Wibulpolprasert said that during an executive board meeting of the WHO in January, Dr Suwit, declared that if an influenza pandemic were to hit Thailand, he would advise the government to hold Western tourists hostage until those countries gave Thailand the necessary vaccines.

I'm not sure if that guy is still a WHO representative or how old that comment is, but in my opinion he should be fired.

[Sanpatong]

They're a military appointed bunch of clowns, what did you expect?

'How to <deleted> up the country in 12 easy monthly steps'.

And I'm not sure they're done yet.

[Tywais]

Remember reading about that some time ago. More information here > Avian Flu Diary

[A_Traveller]

Copy of last post in thread

This is a consolidated repost from earlier in the thread:-

It should be remembered that this gentlemen is part of the bureaucracy [he is not the Minister of Health] and has been in office for some time, he's not part of the new junta.

Further in his speech {the 'hostage' element was apparently an 'in corridor' comment} to the WHO in Geneva in January, he said :- "The pandemic will definitely occur in developing countries, not developed countries. But we are sending our virus (samples) to the rich countries to produce anti-virals and vaccines....and when pandemic occurs, they survive and we die,.... It is unfair to let the poor die and the rich survive..". He described the matter as a "national security issue" and "We are not opposing the sharing of information and virus, but on the condition that every country will have equal opportunity to get access to vaccine and anti-virals if such a pandemic occurs.".

This speech was in a forum discussing the system, designed by the WHO for flu viruses which are isolated in a country and analysed to increasing levels of sophistication by a national lab, regional lab, and 1 of 4 WHO Influenza Collaborating Centers in Tokyo, Melbourne, London, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. This system has run on effectively goodwill for some 50 years but is coming under increasing strain over the twin concerns of intellectual property rights and vaccine access.

I have already suggested that the comment was driven by the concern that he had already expressed in his speech as to access to the vaccines at a critical time. Perhaps a better turn of phrase would have been 'What are they going to do if we have x thousand of their nationals in our borders and major flight restrictions are being put in place.'. I know there was some minor chatter about this at the time but it has only gained traction via the Wall Street Journal after the Thai authorities took their position re HIV/AIDS medicines.

Link to Thread

[solent01]

I think his words are being used against him Mr Rainman. He said a lot more than what Wiki has listed.

[Scott]

No matter what, it's not a very bright statement to make. My concern is just where is this guys thinking? The country is certainly free to put it's resources into R&D for a vaccine, but they aren't. There plan is once again to rely on someone else to develop it and then decide it should be given to them free.

Most developed countries aren't going to just sit on a vaccine. The quicker they can stop the spread of the disease where it begins, the less the impact is on them. Thus if the initial outbreak is in Indonesia, the quicker they start a vaccination program there, the less the chance that it will infect Europe.

Of course, scarcity of resources means countries will vaccinate their own first, but I hope this wouldn't depend on nationality, but on geography.

[dominique355]

Indonesian health officials took a similar position at WHO and refused to give to Western countries specimen of the Bird Flew virus samples they have collected with the argument that with this virus, Western pharmaceutical companies will be able to develop a vaccine and then sell it while Indonesia would have to buy it.

So Indonesia (and similarly Thailand) would have to buy the vaccine.

OK then, but why isn't Indonesia or Thailand developing this new vaccine? Simple: They cannot, don't have the R&D people and facilities and know-how.

So if nobody will or is able to develop a vaccine, what then?

More people will get infected and die, but the Officials of these countries have taken strong position against these evil Western countries and companies.

Great!

[Prakanong]

No matter what, it's not a very bright statement to make. My concern is just where is this guys thinking? The country is certainly free to put it's resources into R&D for a vaccine, but they aren't. There plan is once again to rely on someone else to develop it and then decide it should be given to them free.

Most developed countries aren't going to just sit on a vaccine. The quicker they can stop the spread of the disease where it begins, the less the impact is on them. Thus if the initial outbreak is in Indonesia, the quicker they start a vaccination program there, the less the chance that it will infect Europe.

Of course, scarcity of resources means countries will vaccinate their own first, but I hope this wouldn't depend on nationality, but on geography.

Of course a developed country (or even a private MNC) is not going to sit on a vaccine - in fact 50 million doses of the vaccine listed below have already been donated to WHO - the warning is at currently phase 3

A pre-pandemic vaccine is available for purchase - the UK, USA and Switzerland have pre-purchased stockpiles of it - Thailand can do so if they want ;-)

As for Indonesia and samples - well birds fly and the company's have already got thevirus or how could they produce the pre-pandemic H5N1 vaccine mentioned above.

I better stop before say too much - commercial intelligence and all that

[mellow1]

Indonesian health officials took a similar position at WHO and refused to give to Western countries specimen of the Bird Flew virus samples they have collected with the argument that with this virus, Western pharmaceutical companies will be able to develop a vaccine and then sell it while Indonesia would have to buy it.

So Indonesia (and similarly Thailand) would have to buy the vaccine.

OK then, but why isn't Indonesia or Thailand developing this new vaccine? Simple: They cannot, don't have the R&D people and facilities and know-how.

So if nobody will or is able to develop a vaccine, what then?

More people will get infected and die, but the Officials of these countries have taken strong position against these evil Western countries and companies.

Great!

Why is it that I have to buy medicine for my family and myself,yet people such as this guy feel they should get it free.

Furthermore if they don't share the speciments, to develop a vaccine, how can they hope to attempt to copy it, as they claim they will be doing, with the HIV and heart drugs.I'm also sure that these drug companies will have no problems getting a sample for a few bucks,they probably have it already,and have been working on it for some time.

[Wolfie]

I think his words are being used against him Mr Rainman. He said a lot more than what Wiki has listed.

Quite true

[britmaveric]

Be honest I wouldnt hold hostage, but if you have an epidemic, you can't seriously let it spread, so a quarantine order would be have to be put in place, so it doesnt spread to other countries.