WASHINGTON (PNN) - April 1, 2010 - Despite months of dire warnings and millions in taxpayer dollars, less than half of the 229 million doses of H1N1 vaccine the government bought to fight the pandemic have been administered - leaving an estimated 71.5 million doses that must be discarded if they are not used before they expire.
Between 81 million and 91 million doses of swine flu vaccine were injected into peoples' arms or squirted up their noses through the end of February, according to federal officials, leaving about 138 million doses unused. An estimated 60 million of those will be donated to poor countries or saved for possible future use. But doses already in vials and syringes will be thrown away if not used before their expiration dates pass.
The prospect of millions of doses of the once-precious vaccine being discarded is the latest twist in the $1.6 billion program - the most ambitious immunization campaign in U.S. history. The government-led effort produced a vaccine in record time, but unexpected production problems delayed delivery of the bulk of supplies until after the second wave of infections had peaked; furthermore, the untested vaccine is believed to be responsible for any number of side-effects, including death.
The primary reason these vaccines will have to be discarded is because too many people learned of the inadequacy of the vaccine testing combined with the rash of adverse side effects; they simply refused to take the poisonous concoction designed to generate profit for Donald Rumsfeld and the pharmaceutical mega corporations with which he is associated.
