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40 million doses of expired swine flu vaccine to be burned; $260 million lost


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Chicago Tribune:


ATLANTA (AP) — About a quarter of the swine flu vaccine produced for the U.S. public has expired — meaning that a whopping 40 million doses worth about $260 million are being written off as trash.

"It's a lot, by historical standards," said Jerry Weir, who oversees vaccine research and review for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The outdated vaccine, some of which expired Wednesday, will be incinerated. The amount, as much as four times the usual leftover seasonal flu vaccine, likely sets a record. And that's not even all of it.

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About 30 million more doses will expire later and may go unused, according to one government estimate. If all that vaccine expires, more than 43 percent of the supply for the U.S. public will have gone to waste.

Federal officials defended the huge purchase as a necessary risk in the face of a never-before-seen virus. Many health experts had feared the new flu could be the deadly global epidemic they had long warned about, but it ended up killing fewer people than seasonal flu.

"Although there were many doses of vaccine that went unused, it was much more appropriate to have been prepared for the worst case scenario than to have had too few doses," said Bill Hall, spokesman for U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Most leading health experts generally agree with that.

"We were faced with the first pandemic we'd had in 40 years. We had to ensure there would be enough vaccine for our nation," said Dr. Mark Mulligan, an Emory University researcher who was involved in testing the vaccine.

Many average Americans also agreed earlier this year, said Robert Blendon, a Harvard University professor who conducts polls on public health. He said a Harvard poll in January found that 59 percent of Americans would prefer the flu vaccine be over-ordered to ensure enough was available, even if it meant doses went unused.

Millions of doses of flu vaccine typically go unused every year and are marked for burning, but in recent years the leftovers amounted to closer to 10 percent of the supply, rather than the 25 percent expiring now. Government flu experts couldn't recall throwing away anything close to 40 million doses before.

The new H1N1 swine flu emerged in April last year, hitting children and young adults particularly hard. It was difficult to predict how deadly it might be or how easily it might spread. Federal health officials pushed five vaccine manufacturers to quickly produce a vaccine. What's more, they wanted a lot of it — many experts thought most people would need two doses for it to work.

The government placed three orders last year for a combined total of nearly 200 million doses — an unprecedented amount and almost double the amount of vaccine made in recent years for seasonal flu.

About 162 million doses were meant for the general public. Another 36 million included doses for the military and other countries.

But demand never took off, for several reasons:

—Tests of the vaccine soon showed only one dose was enough to protect most people.

—Much of the vaccine was not ready until late 2009, after the largest wave of swine flu illnesses passed.

—Swine flu turned out not to be as deadly as was first feared. About 12,000 deaths have been attributed to it — or roughly a third of the estimated annual deaths from seasonal flu.

So while people were waiting hours for swine flu vaccinations in some cities in October and November, by January local health departments were trying gimmicks to get anyone at all to come in for a shot.

Government officials have known for months that they were looking at a huge surplus. According to an Associated Press calculation based on federal purchasing information, the dollar value of the 40 million expired doses is about $261 million. The government didn't release an official figure, but Hall said the AP estimate was approximately correct.snip
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ATLANTA (AP) — About a quarter of the swine flu vaccine produced for the U.S. public has expired — meaning that a whopping 40 million doses worth about $260 million are being written off as trash.

 

 

Your tax money at work!

 

 

OTOH it could be said better to have it and not need it than need it and not have

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The crime here is the inflated crisis that the Administration fanned... and that much of this was done too late.

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The crime here is the inflated crisis that the Administration fanned... and that much of this was done too late.

 

It wasn't just "The One". I recall Hugh Hewitt getting really excited about this.

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I would be very interested to know what corporations made and profited from this and who the power behind them are.

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I would be very interested to know what corporations made and profited from this and who the power behind them are.

 

Manufacturers of H1N1 Vaccines

 

NOVARTIS (Swiss) 2009 sales (unknown)

GlaxoSmithKline (U.S.) 2009 Sales $3 billion

SANOFI-AVENIS (U.S.) 2009 Sales $90 million

Astrazeneca (U.K./Sweden) 2009 Sales (unknown)

SINOVAC (China) 2009 Sales (unknown)

Baxter International (U.K.) 2009 sales (unknown)

Inovio Biomedical (U.S.) 2009 Sales (unknown)

NOVAVAX (U.S.) 2009 Sales (unknown)

CSL (Australia) 2009 Sales $250 million

SOLVAY (Belgium) 2009 sales (unknown)

Hualan Biological (China) 2009 Sales (unknown)

Green Cross (S. Korea) 2009 Sales $155 million

 

Sales figures represent H1N1 vaccine sales only.

Sales figures are based on number of units reserved by governments world wide

Companies with sales listed as unknown were still in trial stages of vaccines when the 2009 H1N1 "crisis" began

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shoutArgyle58! I looked back at the partial research I did in the 'Community' section here last November on AlGore. On of the companies that he and David Blood run lists NOVAVAX as ones of its components. Looking in to all the companies that he has his hands on(besides massuesses)and his associates is frightening.
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Guest AnneV

The obummer administration botched a simple vaccine program...can't wait to see what they do with nationalized medicine...it would make the NHS look efficient!

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Damn Argyle!

 

You are a master at digging out the answers "that curious minds want to know!" :D

 

As an engineer, a practicing tax accountant and a J.D., good research skills are a must. :blush:

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