Please use them before they expire...

[Guest guest]

(Please, let's roll up our sleeves and get a swine flu shot whether we need one

or not. I'm sure we wouldn't want the tax dollars that paid for them to go to

waste. I little detail like expiration dates shouldn't bother anyone.)

 

U.S. has 71 million unused flu vaccine doses

HHS says states should continue to administer vaccine

 

* Grassley says he is worried about wasting tax dollars

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

 

WASHINGTON, May 3 (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 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 (NOVN.VX), AstraZeneca

(AZN.N) unit MedImmune, Sanofi Aventis (SASY.PA), GlaxoKline (GSK.L) and

Australian vaccine maker CSL (CSL.AX).

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.

 

Man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants.

Make yourselves sheep and the wolves will eat you.

Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.

Ben lin