U.S. has 71 million unused flu vaccine doses
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A nurse holds up a vial of H1N1 flu vaccine prior to an inoculation at the Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania October 28, 2009.
Credit: Reuters/Bradley Bower
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States still has 71 million doses of H1N1 swine flu vaccine that have not been used, but it is not yet time to throw them out, the federal government said on Monday.
States and other providers should hang on to the vaccine and continue to offer them to people until drug companies can start distributing seasonal vaccine for the coming influenza season in the autumn, said Health and Human Services Department spokesman Bill Hall.
Senator Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance committee, released a letter on Monday that he sent to HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius asking her how much vaccine was left over and when it would expire.
H1N1 swine flu is still technically causing a pandemic and health officials say anyone who has not been vaccinated should still try, in case it causes a third wave of serious disease.
Health experts consider swine flu likely to join the mix of seasonal flu viruses and it will be included in the seasonal flu vaccine for 2010-2011, which will also contain two other flu strains.
When the H1N1 virus started spreading in April, HHS and its agencies, along with commercial flu vaccine makers, rushed to formulate and make a vaccine.
Influenza vaccines are made using old and unwieldy methods that require incubating the virus in chicken eggs, and the process always takes months.
Vaccine started rolling out in October and the U.S. eventually ordered 229 million doses from its five licensed makers -- Novartis, AstraZeneca unit MedImmune, Sanofi Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline and Australian vaccine maker CSL.
Sebelius said last month that 162 million doses were produced and distributed, but only 90 million actually got into people's arms or noses.
VARYING SHELF LIFE
"Depending on the vaccine manufacturer, the shelf life of the H1N1 vaccines range from 18 weeks to 18 months, with some due to expire on June 30, 2010," Grassley wrote in his letter to Sebelius.
"I understand that it is not uncommon for some seasonal flu vaccines to be discarded each year, but the H1N1 vaccines were paid for with taxpayer dollars," he added, asking: "How many doses of vaccine are due to expire on June 30, 2010?"
Hall said the department would respond to Grassley.
"There are approximately 71 million doses, held by states, the distributor or the manufacturers, that remain unused, and have varying expiration dates, some as long as early 2011," Hall said by e-mail.
"We have asked states to hold on to any vaccine that has not expired, in case we continue to have regional upticks in disease, another wave, or another early start to the flu season. We are holding onto that vaccine (and advising states and vaccinators to hold onto theirs) until there is sufficient seasonal vaccine (which includes coverage for the 2009 H1N1 virus) to replace it."
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that H1N1 has killed at least 12,000 Americans and put more than 265,000 in hospital. People with chronic diseases such as asthma or diabetes, pregnant women and children were at highest risk.
Grassley also asked Sebelius whether HHS would try to increase distribution of seasonal flu vaccines.
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Comments
May 04, 2010 1:32pm EDTHealingNews Report As AbusiveThe Federal Government does not want these vaccines thrown out, because they spent a fortune on this program. Yet Kathleen Sebelius [Secretary of Health and Human Services] signed a document giving “full immunity” from prosecution or law suits to Government officials and/or vaccine manufacturers promoting their use, vaccines were able to bypass FDA research, and were never proven to be either effective or safe. http://www.healingnews.com/swine_flu_vaccine_programs_1109122009.html
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NOT ONLY THIS BUT ALSO:
• The swine flu vaccine is set to cost the Swedish tax payer 900 million kronor ($121 million), according to new figures released by the National Board of Health and Welfare. The figure is 300 million kronor less than forecast after the vaccine's manufacturer Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) agreed to cut the number of supplied doses by 25 percent from 18 to 13.5 million doses. Since the launch of the mass vaccination program last autumn six million doses have been used, with the remaining seven million doses held in central reserve in the instance of a new outbreak.
• Germany is stuck with €250 million worth of swine flu vaccine ordered during the height of the flu panic last winter but never used because the mass immunization campaign was a failure, according to a Friday media report. Health authorities across Germany's 16 states still have 30 million shots left over. In the large western state of North Rhine-Westphalia alone have 6.4 million doses, the WAZ newspaper reported.
MY CONCLUSION IS THAT H1N1 WAS OVER-MARKETED IN A WELL SYNCHRONIZED MANNER FROM VACCINE MANUFACTURERS WITH A DIRECT SUPPORT FROM WHO, WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO BE A FAIR AND NEUTRAL PART. GOVRNMENTS FOUND ITSELF IN A DIFICULT POSITION: PART IS AN OBLIGATION TOWARD CITIZINS (MOSTLY IN DEVELOPED OUNTRIES) AND ANOTHER PART IS JEOLUISY AND IMMITATION (MOSTLY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES WHO TRIES TO SHOW ITSLEF AS NOT RETARDED FROM THE INTERNAIONAL AGREEMENT). BUT THE VAST MAJORITY OF HUMAN BEINGS WERE STILL UNAWARE AS THEY LOOK FOR THEIR DAILY LIVING.
Tarek
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