He also specified that a viral prototype could be available to the pharmaceutical industry in "about four weeks", although other experimental stages are necessary before the vaccine can be commercialized.
The H5N1 virus, responsible for the so-called "chicken flu", has caused 5 deaths this winter in Vietnam, and cases have appeared in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand and Hong Kong.
The WHO also expressed concern about the possibility of the emergence of a mutation of the H5N1 virus capable of being transmitted between humans rather than through contact with birds.
