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SALT LAKE CITY -- Just months after a nationwide shortage of the H1N1 vaccine, the Salt Lake Valley Health Department is throwing hundreds of doses away.
Over 1,500 doses of the vaccine expired Wednesday and must be disposed of.
"I just think it's really sad because we have had this vaccine and we've tried to have people come in and get it," says Sharon Moon, an immunization coordinator with the Salt Lake Valley Health Department.
The department says there could be more discarded doses in the weeks to come. Unless there is an influx of people in the Salt Lake Valley who get the H1N1 vaccine over the next few weeks, the 1,500 expired doses will become 9,000 by the end of the month.
The health department says when the first doses of the vaccine were manufactured, the drug companies thought it would remain effective until the end of June. But as quality studies were completed, those companies found the vaccine's ability to produce an immune response had decreased over time -- forcing the expiration date to be moved up.
"This is the first year it's been made," Moon says. "Evidently they thought it would remain more active longer and now they know that this particular one did not."
The Salt Lake Valley Health Department is not the only department experiencing this type of H1N1 vaccine waste. According to an article in the Washington Post, about 71.5 million doses are expected to be discarded nationwide.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the federal government paid for 229 million doses of vaccine about a year ago. So far, between 81 million and 91 million doses have been administered.
"The state health department feels that about 49 percent of the population received the vaccine. Another 15 to 20 percent have had the disease. About 60 percent of the state's population is protected," Moon says.
The Salt Lake Valley Health Department still has a large supply of vaccine that will not expire for another year. The same goes for other large health departments around the state, including the Davis County and Weber-Morgan health departments.
Those who have not received the vaccine are still encouraged to do so. Health officials are concerned about the possibility of a third wave of the H1N1 virus as the weather turns warmer.
E-mail: spark@ksl.com
