Swine flu drug gaps expose need for EU vaccine-sharing rules

While fears of a swine flu pandemic appear to have been over-blown, difficulties in the procuring and sharing of vaccines in parts of Europe have jolted health ministers into realising that something must be done to ensure no member state is left out should the continent ever be faced with the outbreak of a genuinely fearsome disease.

At a meeting of European Union health chiefs in Luxembourg on Monday (12 October), member states decided that the bloc needs an agreed strategy on how to ...