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| quote: | Originally posted by malek
GSK is running at over capacity 24/7 for the last months to supply all these vaccines, it's not impossible that human errors happen...
And Billions Jay? Really? 8$ a flu shot, I'll let you do the math. |
human errors that i would rather not be subjected to 
| quote: | Cost of H1N1 flu vaccine program hits $1.5B: report
Updated: Thu Nov. 12 2009 09:03:05
CTV.ca News Staff
It appears that the plan to have every Canada vaccinated against H1N1 flu is not coming cheap. New estimates show that the vaccination program could cost more than $2 billion.
The vaccine has been available to Canadians for only about three weeks now, but according to a report in The Globe and Mail, $1.51-billion has already been spent.
That figure was reached after reviewing estimates from federal, provincial and territorial governments.
The actual figure might be even higher, because many provinces are still revising their costs, while others have yet to release total estimates.
In September, provincial and territorial health ministers predicted the cost of buying and delivering the vaccine at around $806-million, or about $16 per dose.
But based on these new estimates, the total cost is currently running at about $30 a shot --and climbing.
The cost of buying 50.4 million doses has been estimated by federal officials at $403 million. But there have been many extra costs incurred by Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Those agencies have racked up the bills by:
* developing emergency and strategic plans
* conducting surveillance and outbreak management
* overtime and standby pay for regulatory and lab staff
* conducting rapid research
Earlier this week, Treasury Board President Vic Toews released 2009-10 supplementary budget estimates and estimated those costs at about $78 million.
But related provincial costs were not included; those are sure to cost millions of dollars more.
Costs have reportedly soared at the provincial level because the unexpected demand for the vaccine has forced many regional health authorities to open more clinics and to ask health staff to work overtime.
Last week, Quebec's health minister said the province will end up spending at least $200 million on H1N1 vaccination. Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger has said the vaccination program's cost could double beyond the original $47-million estimate. And Alberta has put its figure at $100 million.
By contrast, Alberta spends about $3.2-million on free seasonal flu shots annually.
Then there's the cost of the federal government's H1N1 awareness campaign. The Public Health Agency figures its radio, television, online and print ads carry a $4.5-million price tag.
Federal officials have always pleased for patience in the rollout of the pandemic flu vaccine program, noting that this is the largest immunization program in Canadian history and it is not easy to distribute vaccine across a nation as vast as ours.
Officials have had to balance the costs of the vaccine program against the potential costs to society and the labour force if a pandemic virus were allowed to spread unabated.
Yet some health experts have questioned the cost of the program, noting that the expense far outweighs the seriousness of the H1N1 virus
Dr. Richard Schabas, the medical officer of health for Ontario's Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit tells the Globe he thinks H1N1 lu has been "the most overhyped, overblown exercise I've ever been a part of," noting that the virus is not causing high rates of serious disease or death.
Meanwhile, a new poll suggests most Canadians think governments have done an OK job handling of the H1N1 pandemic.
The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey found 22 to 24 per cent of those surveyed said each level of government has done a good job dealing with H1N1 flu, while another 33 to 37 per cent describe their performance as at least fair.
Alberta was the exception, with 61 per cent of respondents rating their provincial government's response to swine flu as poor. |
and this:
| quote: |
H1N1 a 'dud' pandemic, Ont. health official says
Last Updated: Thursday, November 12, 2009 | 7:33 PM ET
CBC News
The huge investments governments made in swine flu pandemic planning might not have been justified, an Ontario health official said Thursday.
"It's really not causing — and is not going to cause and nowhere has caused — significant levels of illness or death," said Dr. Richard Schabas, Ontario's former chief medical officer of health.
"But governments moved ahead regardless. They ramped up their response, spent a huge amount of money on vaccines and other things. I'm not sure the $1.5 billion includes the cost of new ventilators, the cost of Tamiflu stockpiles … the huge investment that's been put into planning for what has ultimately turned out to be, from a pandemic perspective, a dud."
Schabas is now the chief medical officer of health for Hastings and Prince Edward counties in eastern Ontario.
On Thursday, The Globe and Mail reported that Canada has so far spent $1.5 billion on the H1N1 vaccination campaign, twice as much as health officials had predicted. The H1N1 vaccine targets the strain of H1N1 influenza A virus causing the current swine flu pandemic.
Originally, it was estimated a single dose of the vaccine would cost $16. That cost has now risen to $30. The increasing cost is attributed in part to an unexpected surge in demand late last month.
By the time the immunization campaign is complete, the cost could exceed $2 billion.
In another development, an EKOS poll conducted exclusively for CBC News suggests more than half of Canadians surveyed believe concerns over the risk of H1N1 are exaggerated.
Of those polled, 53 per cent said the level of concern about swine flu is exaggerated, considering the real risks involved with the virus. Thirty-seven per cent said the concern was consistent with the level of risk, and 10 per cent said the level of risk was understated.
The survey of 3,502 people was conducted by telephone between Nov. 4 and Nov. 10, 2009, and has an error margin of plus or minus 1.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Both landline and cellphone users were included.
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