Fate of the unused swine flu vaccines

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDMay 4 2010

The United States Government in an announcement on Monday revealed that the U.S. still has 71 million doses of unused H1N1 swine flu vaccine but there is still time left before it is wasted. They have urged the providers to keep the vaccines and continue to supply them to people until pharmaceutical manufacturers start distributing seasonal vaccine for the coming influenza season in the autumn.

This statement was made by Health and Human Services Department spokesman Bill Hall. Senator Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance committee had asked in his letter this Monday to the HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius about the amount of vaccines left and their expiry dates. He wrote, “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…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…How many doses of vaccine are due to expire on June 30, 2010?”

According to health officials, swine flu is still a scare and those not vaccinated should go in for it. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at least 12,000 Americans have been killed and more than 265,000 were hospitalized with swine flu.

Earlier last April after the swine flu outbreak HHS and its allied agencies worked hard to develop the swine flu vaccine. These became available in October and the U.S. eventually ordered 229 million doses from its five licensed vaccine makers - Novartis, Sanofi Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca’ MedImmune, and Australian vaccine maker CSL. According to Sebelius of the 162 million doses only 90 million were used.

Now Australian researchers from Sydney University and from within the New South Wales Health Department have surveyed 300 general practices in Sydney's south-west. Their findings show that 42% of the flu doses were discarded. They agree that the 10 ml multi dose vials could be a reason since these vials had to be thrown away with unused vaccine within 24 hours of opening it. This report was published in the letters section of  the Medical Journal of Australia.