Nations warned as scramble for swine flu vaccine likely

AN UGLY scramble is brewing over the swine flu vaccine – and when it becomes available, Britain, the United States and other nations could find that the contracts they signed with pharmaceutical companies are easily broken.

Experts warn that during a global epidemic, which the world is in now, governments may be under tremendous pressure to protect their own citizens first before allowing companies to ship doses of vaccine out of the country.

That does not bode well for many countries, including the United States, which makes only 20% of the flu vaccines it uses, or Britain, where all of its flu vaccines are produced abroad.