Top 10 Costa Rica

Costa Rica Chosen For Testing AH1N1 Vaccine

Costa Ricans may be one of the first to try the vaccine being developed to combat the AH1N1 flu virus. A group of 784 Ticos will form part of a world study, which will be under the charge of the Instituto de Atención Pediátrica (IPED) headed by infectologist Adriano Arguedas Mohs.

The IPED was chosen by the Swiss pharmaceutical Novartis to conduct a study of the various vaccines being developed around the world.

At least five laboratories are working on a vaccine which is expected to be approved either in September and October for mass distribution.

Arguedas said that the prototype vaccine, which we will be studied in Costa Rica will also be tested in the United States and Mexico.

Person between the age of 3 and 64 from all over Costa Rica will participate in the study, according to Arguedas, after receiving accreditation from the science and ethic committee of the Universidad de Ciencias Médicas (Ucimed) in San José and the Consejo Nacional de Investigación en Salud (Conis) of the Ministerio de Salud.

The viceministra de Salud, Ana Morice, said that the choice of Costa Rica is a recognition of the highest level of research in the country.

Morice was emphatic that the government will not negotiate with Novartis for the purchase of the vaccine, which purchase will be negotiated by the World Health Organization and all purchases made by way of the Organización Panamericana de la Salud, which will negotiate the best price for Latin American countries from the vaccine manufacturers.

The IPED will in the coming days offer an invitation to Costa Ricans to participate in the study.