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Netherlands tries to sell excess flu vaccineWednesday 13 January 2010 The Netherlands is to try to sell 19 million doses of swine flu vaccine which are now surplus to requirements because the epidemic is almost over, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday. But a spokesman for the health ministry declined to say which countries have been approached and what price the government wants for the vaccines, the paper says. Other European countries, such as Germany, Britain and Belgium are negotiating with drugs manufacturers to have their orders reduced. Germany, for example, has negotiated a 30% discount with GlaxoSmithKline on its order of 50 million doses, according to a Bloomberg report. GlaxoSmithKline is joint producer of the Netherlands' 34 million vaccines. Two doses The health ministry ordered enough to provide two doses for every man, woman and child in the country because it orginally planned to vaccinate the entire population. In the end, only the elderly, young children, health workers and people with other health problems were given the double dose as the epidemic waned. By January 8, 54 people in the Netherlands had died of swine flu, or variant H1N1, and 2178 people had been taken to hospital. The government had been expecting up to 10,000 deaths from the virus. Drugs manufacturers Earlier this week, Wolfgang Wodarg, health director at the Council of Europe, accused the makers of flu drugs and vaccines of influencing the World Health Organisation's decision to declare swine flu pandemic. This led to the pharmaceutical firms ensuring 'enormous gains', with millions being vaccinated against a relatively mild disease, he said. In the Netherlands, it emerged last year that the country's chief virologist Ab Osterhaus, who advised the government to buy a double dose of the vaccine, has close links to drugs firms. He denied any conflict of interest. © DutchNews.nl
Better safe than sorry, no? Perhaps had we all not taken the shot, the virus may have spread? By Alex | January 13, 2010 12:26 PM NO, Alex. Better dont pay to Ab Osterhaus, GlaxoSmithKline and likes from the everyone's pocket. Better dont talk giberish about lethal-mutant-virus spreading, when there are far more dangerous disseases around, which dont get the publicity and cannot be as easily cashed on. And it never really made it to prove that vaccine deals with the virus after all. There was original one, which didnt, then there was beta version, and guess what not using so much of any of it, virus went its cycle and recessed. ah and good luck with buyers. Dont forget to publish, at least the value of the sealed deal! By Jon | January 13, 2010 2:16 PM It has already came out that its another big pharma scare tactic...better safe than sorry???? the crap they put in the vaccine is poison if you want to call it safe. check out how many people got damaged or dead by it before you make such comment. By Zen | January 13, 2010 3:03 PM The next time the government is trying to raise your taxes to 60%, or take away your mortgage deduction, think of the billions of euro they wasted over reacting to the fake swine flu scare. If I accidentally panic and spend all my money on aspirin, no one gets to deal with the money shortage but me. Whereas our government believes that its own financial lunacy can always be fixed by taking more of your money away. How many people in the Netherlands dies in this "epidemic"? More will die in one day of accidents then died in the entire epidemic of 2009. Ridiculous. By Marcus | January 13, 2010 4:54 PM It's disgusting, this sort of scam in the name of health 'care'. Since I had a kidney transplant a year ago, it was highly recommended that I get the vaccines. Though a conspiracy theorist, I buckled and did end up getting them. But I do regret it: for health reasons (who needs the extra toxins in the system?) and also because I have no desire to contribute to these sort of ludicrous medical politics any more than I am already forced to. By Lulu | January 13, 2010 5:31 PM Flu epidemic? Did I miss something? I've been here the entire time, with nothing more serious than a runny nose. By Garry | January 13, 2010 6:32 PM it's easy to criticise when we have the benefit of hindsight. I got vaccinated because a I have a small baby who was too young to be vaccinated and do not regret my decision. It does make me angry that the drugs companies might have been behind the WHO pandemic declaration but like Alex, I do prefer to be safe than sorry. By Expat | January 13, 2010 8:31 PM They could have used the money they wasted on the vaccines to buy salt/grit for the roads and sidewalks. I am sure that far more people have ended up in hospital with snow/ice related injuries (from falls and accidents on the road) than for swine flu. By LS | January 13, 2010 9:25 PM BTW, Ab Osterhus got One Million Euro Prize from the government for promoting swine flu, check out the old news for proof. By Zen | January 13, 2010 10:50 PM Which one of them? the right one? or the INSULIN... By Fleur | January 14, 2010 5:26 PM I really enjoy reading the diverse comments here, very entertaining! Big boys playing with big money with our HEALTH WORRIES on a global scale, enough is enough!!! We were lucky to choose yes or no! What will be the next scaremongering fiasco, bubonic plague? Worse things happen at sea... By stevie | January 14, 2010 11:03 PM
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Cried a wolf... Now next time there will be a whatever,pig-bird-goat flu, good luck getting anyone listening. Please give also report how many people have died last year from regular flu, and how many went to hospital.
10k deathes, they clearly thought that people live here filthy without access to basic medical care and awarness of health issues. Nice to know!
By Jon | January 13, 2010 9:07 AM