Swine Flu Vaccine Spoiling in Oklahoma

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Less than half of the swine flu vaccine that was set aside for Oklahoma in 2009 was used and much of the remainder has spoiled or is spoiling.

The government spent more than $1.5 billion for the swine flu vaccine program nationwide and set aside more than 1.3 million doses for Oklahoma. The state used about 602,000 doses, health officials said.

The federal government made about 162 million doses of the vaccine available for the public nationwide and some 90 million doses were used.

The decisions to produce vaccine in large amounts were in line with the threat level at the time, said Bill Hall, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

"Although there were many doses of vaccine that went unused, it was much more appropriate to have been prepared for the worst-case scenario than to have had too few doses," Hall said.

Don Blose, the Oklahoma Health Department's chief of immunization service, agrees.

"Vaccine is one of the best preventive tools we have to protect people," he said. "It was particularly lethal for some individuals ... younger people were at risk, as opposed to the elderly."

In Oklahoma, more than 1,000 people were hospitalized with the virus, and 44 died.

Almost 208,000 doses have expired, according to the state Health Department, and another nearly 213,000 doses are in doctors' offices and clinics across the state with varying dates of expiration.

Another 299,000 doses are available for shipment to Oklahoma.

About 10,000 doses of Oklahoma's H1N1 vaccine won't expire until June 2011. Some of that will be used in an Oklahoma Health Department program in a few weeks for children under 9 who have not already received a flu shot, Blose said.

Dr. Gene Claflin, Oklahoma City-County Health Department medical director, said taking an H1N1 vaccination this summer will not cause a problem with also taking the seasonal flu vaccination in the fall.

"If anything, it would give the individual more immunity to the flu, because it would act as a booster to the initial vaccination," Claflin said.

Claflin said H1N1 still is circulating in the U.S. but at very low levels.