A) why did they buy 50 million doses to begin with? And i dont buy the "in case we needed 2 per person" arguement

B) another red flag when it comes to this who cherade. There have already been allegations that WHO trumped this whole thing up in conjunction with drug companies. This little transaction doesnt help matters.

C) Since swine flu has proven to be a hoax, what use is this vaccine now? I suspect the WHO will quietly bury it in some third world landfill.

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Canada donates 5 million doses of excess H1N1 vaccine to WHO for redistribution By Helen Branswell, Medical Reporter, The Canadian Press TORONTO - Canada has revealed what it will do with a portion of the country's large H1N1 vaccine surplus, announcing Thursday that it is giving five million doses to the World Health Organization. Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said Canada would also give the global health agency $6 million to support its ongoing pandemic relief efforts. "We are fortunate to be in a position to contribute H1N1 flu vaccine to the WHO to help developing countries now that we have met Canada's immediate needs," Aglukkaq said in a statement. Earlier this month Canada announced it was lending Mexico five million doses of vaccine, to allow the NAFTA partner to speed up its vaccine delivery efforts. Mexico has promised to replace the vaccine by the end of March. Mexico has vaccine contracts in place but the bulk of its order wasn't due to be delivered until late this month. It has been clear for months Canada would have a large vaccine surplus. But federal officials have been coy about what would be done with the excess, insisting a decision would only be made when Canada's needs had been met. Demand for vaccine has plummeted across the country since mid to late December, a reflection of the fact that there is little H1N1 activity anywhere in the country. The second wave of H1N1 activity in Canada peaked in November. In fact, demand for vaccine has evaporated in many countries, with virus activity subsiding in most parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Many countries with advance purchase agreements for vaccine have announced they are turning back large portions of their orders. The timing of Canada's announcement prompted a frequent critic of federal foreign policy to dismiss the contribution as coming too late to be of real use. "This gesture is too little, too late, and shows not Canada's generosity but stinginess compared to other countries whose donations were pledged months ago, when the need for vaccine was greatest," said Amir Attaran, who holds a research chair in law, population health and global development policy at the University of Ottawa. "Now the need is little. It is perhaps not too cynical to ask if, coming at this very late date, Canada is truly giving a gift of vaccine to poor countries, or Canada is dumping it on them, so that they bear the expense of waste disposal and we don't." The WHO said Thursday that 200 million doses of H1N1 vaccine have been committed to its vaccine redistribution effort. Of that, 94 million doses are currently available to be sent to recipient countries once they have met all the requirements for receiving vaccine. The remainder of the doses are still in production. The lion's share comes from manufacturers Sanofi Pasteur, GlaxoSmithKline and Australian vaccine maker CSL. But 17 countries have made contributions. They are: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Switzerland, Thailand and the United States. Despite the fact that the WHO had hoped to start distributing donated vaccine in late November, so far only two countries, Azerbaijan and Mongolia, have taken possession of donated vaccine. Those deliveries were made earlier this month. In part that is due to the fact that the vaccine took longer to produce than had been anticipated. And mounting the redistribution program - which involves making sure recipient countries have a workable plan for deploying vaccine once they get it - has proved to be more time consuming than the WHO had expected. "This is a massive logistics undertaking without any precedence in terms of delivering vaccine to groups within some countries who are not normally part of an influenza vaccination program," spokesperson Nyka Alexander said in an email. "There are a number of regulatory and legal details that must be dealt with in each country." Seventeen other recipient countries are in line to receive vaccine within the next few weeks, she said. And others are still working their way through the process. While 89 countries had earlier indicated they wanted donated vaccine, it's not clear if all will follow through with the work needed to qualify. So far 34 have signed letters of agreement to proceed, Alexander said. Aglukkaq's statement gave no hints about whether this was the only donation Canada would make to the redistribution effort or what would be done with the remaining surplus. "Further options for managing Canada's remaining H1N1 flu vaccine supply are being reviewed," it simply stated. That surplus may be twice as large as the amount of vaccine the country has actually used, even though Canada has one of the highest - if not the highest - rate of H1N1 vaccine uptake in the world. The country bought 50.6 million doses of vaccine, the bulk of which was made by GSK at its facility in Ste-Foy, Que. A small shipment - 200,000 doses - of vaccine made by CSL was purchased from the Australian government. The large order was placed at a time when it was thought two doses per person might be needed. Studies later showed one dose was sufficient for all but children under three, who need two half doses, given three weeks apart. The Public Health Agency of Canada estimates about 45 per cent of Canadians have been vaccinated, which would account for about 15 million doses. In reality, though, the amount of vaccine already used would be higher. Even when administered with care, there is always a degree of wastage that occurs. The federal government has resisted making a projection of how large the vaccine surplus will be, pointing out that the future path of the virus can't be predicted and demand might once again spike, if there is a third wave of illness. But as things currently stand, Canada could have 25 million to 30 million doses of vaccine left over, even after making the donation to the WHO. The most recent assessment from the Public Health Agency of Canada, posted last Friday on its website, showed most parts of the country have either sporadic flu activity or none at all. And no region reported widespread activity

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Originally posted by jester Everything in this country is illegal.

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery…" Winston Churchill

‎"If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law" - Winston Churchill