The Estonian Medical Association fears doctors will not be able to inoculate the country's most vulnerable before a swine flu outbreak hits.

TALLINN — The swine flu vaccine may arrive too late to prevent an outbreak in Estonia due to disagreements between the government and a vaccine developer.

The Estonian Medical Association sent a public note Saturday to Hanno Pevkur, the minister of social affairs saying that the late purchase of the swine flu vaccine shows incompetence and negligence.

Estonia’s Health Protection Inspection has registered 130 cases of swine flu in their laboratory so far, but the Ministry of Social Affairs remains in negotiations with the vaccine manufacturer, whose name has not been released to the public.

However Marge Sassi, Ministry of Social Affairs spokeswoman said the ministry has not stalled with the order of the vaccine and that negotiations with the developer would be completed within a week.

“We’ve been negotiating with the manufacturers ever since the pandemic was announced,” Sassi told Baltic Reports.

Sassi said the manufacturer told the ministry that countries without a pre-purchasing contract might not get the A/H1N1 vaccine at all, but then announced that the soonest deadline for the arrival of swine flu vaccine will be March 2010. The ministry questions the effectiveness of receiving the vaccine at that time, as the epidemic could be already over and also disputed the non-refundable clause, so no contract was signed. Estonia has been looking for alternative solutions to get the vaccine and make it available this year, said Sassi.

The ministry intends to buy 200,000 doses of vaccine and make it available inside the risk groups. Children, pregnant women and the elderly are considered the most threatened and will be the first to receive a vaccine. However, predicting the necessary amount to handle an outbreak can be difficult.

Nearby countries such as Belarus and Ukraine have closed schools to combat the spread of the virus, which claimed 20 and 155 lives in each country, respectively. Various regions of Russia are requiring surgical masks to be worn in public places. Meanwhile Latvia and Lithuania have both experienced contained outbreaks but no fatalities.

When the vaccine does become available in Estonia, the ministry said the price of the vaccine should be around 150 krooni (€9.59).