Germany and Spain have announced an interest to reduce total swine flu vaccines deliveries as well as potentially even returning unused supplies back to manufacturers, given the low response from the general population to get vaccinated.
The Spanish health minister Trinidad Jimenez, said Spain was in talks with manufacturers about a possible return of unused vaccines. The health minister in Germany announced Thursday that several German states were in talks with Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline over a possible reduction in deliveries of the swine flu vaccine.
Both countries had planned their required vaccine dosages on the basis that two doses per person would be needed, which has turned out to no be the case, given that health authorities around the world are now of the belief that a single vaccine dose is sufficient.
The discussions of reducing deliveries of the H1N1 vaccine or possibly even returning unused dosages, could be a hefty financial blow to manufacturers.
Around 50 million people have contracted the H1N1 virus, more commonly known as the swine flu virus. Out of all the infected around 10,000 have died suggesting the mortality rate is no higher than with seasonal flu.
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