At a time when almost all EU Member States are trying to get rid of their left over stock of A(H1N1) vaccines the World Health Organisation (WHO) is said to have been unduly influenced by the pharmaceutical industry to allow big pharmaceutical companies to ratchet up production of a vaccine for business reasons.

On January 25 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will launched an emergency inquiry regarding the influence of pharmaceutical companies on the global A(H1N1) campaign.

The inquiry will focus on the drug industry’s influence on the WHO. The motion was introduced by Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg, head of health at the Council of Europe, who has accused the makers of flu drugs and vaccines
of influencing the WHO’s decision to declare a pandemic.

The motion has now been signed by 14 members from 10 countries sitting on the EU’s Health Committee, who are angry that nations all over the world, and particularly in Europe, have wasted scarce health funds on a contrived “pandemic”.

The investigation is listed on the EU’s draft agenda as “Request for Debate Under Urgent Procedure on ‘Faked Pandemics – A Threat for Health’.”

WHO is criticised on the definition of a pandemic with a suspicion that it watered down the criteria to accommodate this outbreak. It is also blamed for overplaying the disease's effects.

The WHO defended itself with affirming it had always predicted this would be a mild pandemic, but that since the definition of pandemic is the worldwide spread of a disease, it fitted the criteria. As to charges that the organisation was influenced by the pharmaceutical industry, WHO acknowledged that it reaches out to experts in situations like this, but has safeguards in place to guard against conflicts of interest.

Only one country is known to have rejected the vaccines - Poland. There, 145 deaths have been blamed on H1N1, but many Poles reportedly support the government's decision as a gesture against big pharmaceuticals.