WHO chief says US, Saudi discussing MERS vaccine

GENEVA – The United States and Saudi Arabia are discussing the possibility of readying a vaccine for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) before the next outbreak of the disease, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

Margaret Chan said there were many gaps in the science of MERS and so far the world had taken only "baby steps" in tackling the virus.

She said cases in Saudi Arabia and South Korea showed that infection control in hospitals was not good enough, one of many examples where countries were failing to meet their obligations to protect public health.

(Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Janet Lawrence)