March 31st, 2010

Reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Nearly half the 162 million doses of H1N1 vaccine produced to fight the deadly flu in the United States have gone unused, and some batches have either expired or are nearing their expiration date.

Allegheny County Health Department will be throwing out 9,400 expired doses of the vaccine mist spray soon, as well as 730 expired doses of the injectable vaccine, said spokesman Guillermo Cole.

Statewide, some 4.6 million doses of H1N1 vaccine have been distributed, but state officials say they don’t know how many were administered, how many are still available or how many have expired.

They do know that more than 683,575 doses were sent to health department district offices and the 60 state health centers, said spokeswoman Stacy Kriedeman. Of those, 26,897 doses have been thrown out because they expired. Overall an estimated 800,000 doses were recalled because they didn’t meet potency standards.

Michael Huff, assistant secretary of health planning and assessment, said that of the 683,575 doses sent to state health centers, “We have less than 40,000 doses left. That is an incredible success story.” But Ms. Kriedeman confirmed that most of the 4.6 million doses Pennsylvania received went to private providers, and said, “We do not have the number of doses expired or unused available.”