WHO ‘exaggerated swine flu danger’
.The World Health Organisation and the pharmaceutical industry have been criticised for their handling of last year’s swine flu pandemic.
At a hearing of the Council of Europe – the European Union’s human rights body – the WHO faced accusations that it exaggerated the danger of the virus under pressure from drug companies.
When a pandemic was declared last June, most European countries changed their health priorities to accommodate thousands of expected patients. .
A number of European governments had signed contracts with the drug companies to buy back vaccines, believing a flu pandemic long predicted by health experts would be a virus-like bird flu with a very high death rate.
– BBC
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The organisation denies any conflict of interest