Germany looks to destroy expensive, unwanted swine flu vaccine

Via DW World :

" Out-of-date swine flu immunizations that were bought by Germany amid fears of a pandemic two years ago are to be destroyed. The number of people who wanted the vaccine at the time was lower than expected.

Swine flu vaccine that German states bought amid fears over a pandemic two years ago, but which few people wanted, is to be destroyed.

The news was confirmed by a spokesman for the Health Ministry of the state of Saxony Anhalt on Wednesday, as stocks of the vaccine reach the end of their shelf life.

Officials from Saxony Anhalt, which currently chairs a working group on the issue, are inviting tenders from disposal firms to get rid of as many as 16 million vials of the material.

The vaccine - which is to be burnt at high temperatures - was bought to meet demand across all German states at the time of the swine flu outbreak in 2009, and had been stored centrally. In addition, said the spokesman, many states had bought their own supplies - some of which have already been destroyed."