Millions of H1N1 Vaccines About to Expire

[sabra]

Source: CBS News/WP

Washington Post: An Estimated 71.5 Million Doses of the Swine Flu Vaccine Could Be Discarded


(The Washington Post) This story was written by Rob Stein 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, leaving millions anxious and frustrated as they scrambled for the shots and nasal sprays.

Nevertheless, officials said they were largely satisfied with the effort, which blunted the impact of the first flu pandemic in decades. Between 72 million and 81 million people are estimated to have been immunized.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/01/politics/washingtonpost/main6353482.shtml?tag=stack

[NJmaverick]

1. This was a classic catch 22. The choice was risk producing too much

and having to discard it (and have the media and the uninformed screaming bloody murder) or risk producing too little and having people die. An unknown influenza strain is going to be unpredictable. Either you prepare for the worse and hope for the best or your gamble with people's lives.

[kestrel91316]

19. Unfortunately, public health agencies face Catch-22's all the time,

and the public gets angry no matter WHAT they do, because they simply can't comprehend the nature of decisions that have to be made and statistical probabilities. They can't catch a break. It's the nature of the field.

There is no one to BLAME here, America, other than the very virus itself.

[NJmaverick]

23. I completely agree and I am thinking you are also in the Public Health field

[kestrel91316]

25. Feline veterinarian with a special interest in zoonoses and public health.

[onehandle]

2. I got mine. nt

[Lost4words]

3. This is a business opportunity to print new labels!

some people only see the negative!

[WinkyDink]

4. Rumsfeld got his money, though.

[TZ]

36. Ummm no he didn't

Thats such a bullshit belief.
Signed an employee of a company that produced H1N1 WHERE DONALD RUMSFELD HAS NEVER EVER WORKED...:banghead:

[naaman fletcher]

5. Are they still needed?

Isn't flu season over?

[Robb]

9. As long as this keeps trending down, yes, we're finished.

From CDC:

[Love Bug]

6. All we kept hearing was how there wasn't enough to go around.

Maybe that's why people didn't ask for it, ergo, a surplus.

[defendandprotect]

11. Maybe doctors and health professionals weren't as happy about this vaccine . . .

as they might have been --

and why not?

[kestrel91316]

20. Actually, from everything I read, the doctors and health professionals were happy

with the vaccine. The incidence of complications was VERY low.

I was sure happy with mine. I suffered no side effects whatsoever.

[defendandprotect]

30. Not all health professionals. . . you might recall NURSES showing concern

and apprehension about these vaccines --

Glad you are Okay . . .

[TZ]

37. I'm a HEALTH professional

I have a chronic health condition and I HAD MINE WITH NO SIDE EFFECTS WHATSOEVER.
But hey, feel free to buy into the media induced hysteria that the vaccine was worse than the disease! Please. idiot.

[Prometheus Bound]

42. Yes, just 37% of healthcare workers got the H1N1 vaccine compared to 62% for the seasonal flu shot

H1N1 vaccine rates low in healthcare workers

Lisa Schnirring * Staff Writer

Apr 1, 2010 (CIDRAP News) – Although less than 40% of healthcare workers have received the pandemic flu vaccine, federal officials see promising signs about uptake of the seasonal vaccine and strategies for boosting vaccination rates in this group.

The findings are from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) initial review of flu vaccine uptake in healthcare workers, published today in the Apr 2 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

According to Internet surveys of healthcare workers that the CDC has been conducting in collaboration with the Rand Corporation, by mid January coverage in healthcare workers was almost 62% for the seasonal flu vaccine but just 37% for the pandemic vaccine. Overall, 64.3% had received one of the two vaccines, higher than in any previous season. However, only 34.7% of healthcare workers received both flu vaccines.
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/swineflu/news/apr0110healthcare-jw.html

[yava]

22. interesting how it "came" at the height of the economic crisis

In hard hit Ukraine, they scared people to death and then saved them!

[Robb]

7. Crappy reporting, doesn't answer my first question:

"Wow, interesting. So what percentage of seasonal flu vaccines are discarded at the end of a flu season? You know, so we can put this number in perspective?" :eyes:

I guess I'll go find out myself?

Edited to add: Looks like 120 million doses of vaccine for the 2006–2007 flu season, http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/95xx/doc9573/Chapter1.5.1.shtml">20 million of which were discarded. So this is a higher number and percentage.

[NJmaverick]

12. Robb, The demand for seasonal flu is pretty predictable

Ordering is usually based on what was administered the year before. So in general there is less waste

[Robb]

13. Agreed. Still would've been a good thing to put in the article. nt

[Posteritatis]

33. There's probably less "omg vaccines! ebil!" bullshit around the seasonal vaccine too

People were terrified of this one because it was (supposedly) different and (very, very supposedly) "rushed" and a fourth-rate actress told them it was bad and so actively resisted the thing.

[hedgehog]

8. A lot of people weren't able to get their vaccines because a lot of

state and county health commissioners locked up all the doses and disrupted normal delivery chains. It was very aggravating, because in some places the big box stores had the vaccine and local family doctors did not!

We got lucky this time around - a lot of people got sick but the fatality rate could have been a lot worse. We need a better delivery system for vaccines and a better plan for an epidemic.

[defendandprotect]

10. In theory: "blunted the impact of the first flu pandemic in decades"

:eyes:

[ladywnch]

15. even though the WHO reported that the pandemic was hyped to sell

vaccines.....that is wasn't has deadly/potent as had been previously reported.

[Bragi]

17. Huh? /nt

[ladywnch]

26. the article states that the vaccine "blunted the impact of the first flu pandemic in decades"

I was pointing out that the whole 'pandemic' meme was manufactured to sell vaccines for big pharma (most of the pandemic fear mongers at the WHO were either closely affiliated or former employees of big pharma). Its 'impact' was never going to be a strong as they hyped it so the vaccine 'blunting' the impact is a crock.

[Bragi]

27. Sorry, but that is just not true

No-one at WHO or elsewhere knew how severe the virus was going to be when the decision was made to produce the vaccine.

Had they delayed vaccine production and waited to find out, and had it turned out to be severe, or had it evolved into a more severe strain, then it would have been too late to produce the vaccine, and many people would have become sick, and many would have died, because of this.

WHO's decision to produce vaccine, in my view, was completely justified.

Having said that, I agree there were people on WHO's vaccine advisory committee who were too closely associated with big Pharma. These were not, however, the people who made the decision to declare the pandemic, or to produce the vaccine.

Which is to say, based on my quite close-up observation of how the H1N1 pandemic unfolded, I don't buy the conspiracy theory.

[ladywnch]

39. all I'm going by is a report by WHO stating the pandemic was overstated.

and that the people involved were former pharma employees.

[defendandprotect]

31. Agree . . . and the involvement of corporations in all decisions makes them all questionable...

we have to end "for profit" in our medical care -- all of it !!

:)

[TZ]

38. Ummm NO!

The CDC reported that the H1N1 virus was not as deadly as first feared-because many people had partial immunity. If you know anything about the CDC (and I am an immunologist and do) they don't make idiotic statements like that. Googlicious paranoid non-scientists who have no idea what an antibody is or does, however, do.

[ladywnch]

40. I did not reference the CDC. I referenced an article I read here on DU

about the WHO's report.

[naaman fletcher]

28. Of course, that is not a disprovable statement...

Like the whole Y2K scare. Was it all hype to start with? Or did all the concern cause everyone to make sure it was no big deal.

[glinda]

14. The vaccine came out in many areas after people were done getting sick.

[JDPriestly]

16. And then think of all the condoms that are worn at the wrong times of the month.

Better to have been over-prepared for the swine flue epidemic than to have risked the lives of many, many people.

Swine flu was not as common in the U.S. as expected. But it was a horrible problem for those who got it. They tended to be young, in the primes of their lives, caught unaware and unprepared. Healthy one day. Hospitalized and fighting for their lives the next.

The vaccine went to enough of the most endangered demographic to prevent an epidemic here. But survivors of H1N1 will tell you that the vaccine was worth the trouble and expense.

[kestrel91316]

21. THANK YOU

[NJmaverick]

24. Good analogy

[SoapBox]

18. I got mine...Remember the flu explosion of last Spring?

...I got mine...I was not about to take chances.

I have a relative who is an ICU (Intensive Care Unit) nurse...the stories of who died, weekly, were too sad. And, the deaths were just awful. AND, they continue.

The stupid anti-vaccine types, the lame media and a poor promotion by those pharmacies that finally got it are all to blame.

Just wait...there will be another surge and then the lemming masses will be in a panic.

[Socal31]

29. What, all of that mercury doesn't preserve them?

[Confusious]

34. Oh, please

Pseudo-science fail.

[Prometheus Bound]

41. State lifts limit on mercury preservative in H1N1 vaccine

The state Health Department has lifted a temporary limit on the amount of a mercury preservative that can be used in the H1N1 swine-flu vaccine because there's an ample supply of the vaccine for anyone who wants to get it.

By Seattle Times staff

The state Health Department has lifted a temporary limit on the amount of a mercury preservative that can be used in the H1N1 swine-flu vaccine because there's an ample supply of the vaccine for anyone who wants to get it.

Washington state law limits the amount of preservative that can be added to vaccines for pregnant women and children under 3. The secretary of health can suspend the law when there's a shortage of vaccine or during a disease outbreak.

The preservative, thimerosal, has not been linked to any health problems, but some people believe the compound could be linked to autism. The state Legislature adopted the limit in 2006.

Thimerosal was added to the bulk of the swine-flu vaccine last year and this year because it was produced in vials that contain enough medication for 10 shots. The mercury compound kills bacteria, lowering the risk that the drug will be contaminated by needles used to withdraw separate doses.

"Suspending the limits made the vaccine more widely available to vulnerable people at a time when supplies were low and production was slow, but that's no longer the case," said Secretary of Health Mary Selecky in a prepared statement.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011421342_swineflu24m.html

[Jennicut]

32. I got mine as did both my daughters. As a diabetic I knew avoiding the

H1N1 was very important. My youngest daughter has asthma so she really needed to protect herself against it too.
Some people were terrified to take the shot. My health issues worried me more.

[buckrogers1965]

35. No Herd Immunity.

Animal populations must achieve a high rate of vaccination to provide protection against infection diseases. This is called herd immunity. You have to inoculate about 80-85% of the population in order to provide protection to un-vaccinated people.

Until you achieve herd immunity levels the disease is not "blunted." The H1N1 infection rate was not blunted because over 80% of the population was not inoculated.

I have yet to see any actual scientific studies that even prove that the H1N1 vaccine prevented any deaths.