With concerns mounting over the spread of the H1N1 virus, the UN has called a meeting of heads of companies making influenza vaccines on May 19, in a bid to coordinate efforts to fight it and ensure developing nations have fair access to an inoculation once it is developed.
The UN health agency at the centre of the global response to the outbreak said that 23 countries have reported 1,658 cases of infection and 30 deaths as of Wednesday.
Mexico, where the outbreak originated, tops the list with 946 laboratory confirmed human cases, the World Health Organisation said.
WHO director-general Margaret Chan and secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, has convened a meeting in Geneva on May 19 to ensure developing countries have fair access to an inoculation against the new flu strain once it is developed.
"It will be a high-level discussion with manufacturers, appealing to corporate responsibility and to working together toward increased equitable access," said WHO director of the Initiative for Vaccine Research Marie-Paule Kieny.
She said discussions have already started with individual manufacturers for the UN Children's Fund and the Pan American Health Organisation agencies to quickly buy vaccines 'as they come off the production line'for people in the most affected parts of the developing world.
WHO has said that manufacturers have everything in place to start producing a vaccine to fight the new influenza flu strain, said Kieny.
Next week, WHO is slated to hold a teleconference with its vaccine advisory committee to discuss whether there is enough evidence to recommend that producers "should start large-scale manufacturing of influenza A (H1N1) vaccine".
Kieny noted that there is not enough evidence to recommend stopping or cutting back production of the seasonal vaccine.
"Potentially a recommendation towards stopping production of seasonal vaccine may come in a few weeks if it does. This is not a done deal," she said.