On the basis of available evidence, and these expert assessments of the evidence, the scientific criteria for an influenza pandemic have been met. (June 11, 2009)

Avian flu or H5N1 is still primarily a disease among animals, … Human deaths have been almost exclusively among humans who came into contact with infected birds. The virus has not shown itself to be...

in case of a pandemic, the EU is prepared to short-circuit the normal approval procedure for vaccines, which could take up to eight months.

No one would be asked to perform tasks or duties they aren’t fully qualified of doing. We need to cast a large net to involve many people in the community because a pandemic flu outbreak...

It’s true that scientists caution us and warn us that there will be a pandemic, … If there is one, then worldwide there will be a large number of deaths.

A pandemic will cause disease outbreaks in many different communities all at the same time,

Based on assessment of all available information and following several expert consultations, I have decided to raise the current level of influenza pandemic alert from phase 4 to phase 5.

It would be my assessment that no nation is adequately prepared for a pandemic avian flu, … (However) I believe that most nations are improving and preparation is increasing.

It is very important to recognize that the money that we spend now will not be wasted even if this particular strain of the virus, H5N1, ends up not becoming a pandemic flu… We know...

The principal goal of Bush’s plan is the capacity for every American to have a vaccine in the case of a pandemic, no matter what the virus is.

Information is probably the most important thing we can do — sharing information, communicating with citizens, businesses, health care industry — so that everybody can think about what they need to do, what is their...

In our lifetime, we have not seen a disease sweep through a community and people die so fast that there’s no one to take care of them at the hospital and there’s no one to...

In large parts of China, especially in the countryside, over the last 20 or 30 years, the health system has been crumbling. You’ve got problems in terms of being able to provide basic health care...

It would be the first time in the history of mankind that a pandemic has been stamped out before it happened.

It simply is telling us that the virus may be changing the way it interacts with humans. It does not tell us that the risk of a mutation that causes the pandemic is increasing or...

It’s a global pandemic. It’s quite clear that the disease… has evolved. There just is more dengue in the world.

It’s the advantage of the virus to spread, and you can only spread when you infect people and they infect other people without necessarily killing them. So if you had 100 percent mortality, the potential...

Nearly 25 years into the pandemic, this very visible disease continues to have an invisible face and that is the face of the child.

If we received these samples from animals we would know what kind of changes the virus is undergoing, which is very, very vital in fighting against any potential pandemic.