Out-of-date flu jabs scrapped at €8m cost

Two out of every three swine flu vaccines stockpiled by the State during the 2009 pandemic crisis have finally been written off as unusable by health officials — costing the taxpayer €8m.

The latest Comptroller and Auditor General report has confirmed the remaining Irish Pandemrix vaccine stocks cannot be used as they are now out of date.

The Department of Health and the HSE provided 1.1m doses of the powerful vaccine to people at the height of concerns over a potential H1N1 pandemic sweeping through Ireland and other nations.

However, despite a high -profile public awareness campaign in late 2009 and early 2010, a further 2m doses were left unused — meaning €8m worth of the total vaccine stock bought for €12.8m was unneeded.

Due to the changing nature of a virus, this remaining amount of vaccine is now considered out of date and therefore ineffective.

While health officials have previously stressed the cost was unavoidable as they needed to ensure Ireland was fully protected against a worst-case scenario, the C&AG finding is the latest in a series of unforeseen issues relating to the swine flu outbreak.

Despite the hype surrounding the virus, suggesting it could be as deadly as the 1918 Spanish flu — which is estimated to have killed 20-50m people worldwide — swine flu was contained.

The Irish death rate was comparatively low, although more than 30 people — the majority with underlying health conditions — still died, including toddlers and elderly patients. In addition, concerns have since been raised over the side effects of the Pandemrix medication used by the State, with 779 adverse reactions recorded in patients who were given the medication in Ireland alone.

This figure, which is almost in line with the number of hospitalisations from swine flu in this country, includes 30 cases of narcolepsy in children and teenagers — resulting in Pandemrix no longer being recommended for use in Ireland.

A major investigation in the immediate aftermath of the swine flu crisis by the British Medical Journal and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism also raised concerns over links between some swine flu medication makers and World Health Organisation scientists who were advising that the drugs should be purchased.

The report said three high-level WHO scientists had previously been paid substantial sums for other work by Roche, which makes Tamiflu, and Relenza manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline.

The BMJ said while the trio had openly declared these interests in other publications, the WHO made no mention of the links.

The report estimates that the drugs giants banked more than €5bn as a result of the WHO recommendations.

A separate summer 2010 report by the Council of Europe also criticised the lack of transparency around the handling of the swine flu pandemic worldwide.

The WHO denied anyone connected to the swine flu response is the subject of an undeclared conflict of interest and said it has existing mechanisms in place to prevent such a situation from occurring.