Up to £300million of taxpayers' money has been wasted on swine flu jabs that were never needed. Ministers ordered 90million doses of a vaccine last year at a cost of £540million as panic over the illness gripped the country. But as the 'pandemic' failed to materialise it soon became clear that the order was far too large. The Department of Health tried to get out of the enormous contract but the drug firm, GlaxoSmithKline, refused to back down.
Yesterday the Government announced it had signed a compromise deal that caps the number of shots of Pandemrix at 34.8million - but, astonishingly, at twice the price first agreed. It means the Government will pay for two-thirds of the original deal but only receive just over a third of the doses. The mild nature of the illness meant only 5.1million doses have been used.
The deal was yesterday criticised by the Tories and pressure groups, who said it proved the Government had mismanaged the seven-month outbreak. The Department of Health ordered enough vaccine to cover the entire population, with three-quarters to be supplied by GlaxoSmithKline. But it did not have a break clause in the contracts signed with GSK - unlike with the drug firm Baxter, which had its order cancelled for all but nine million of 36million doses. (Daily Mail)
