8 mil. euro in the Ano Liosia landfill
8 mil. euro in the Ano Liosia landfill
Over 1 mil. vaccines from last year’s frenzy expired, while only 1 in 10 was required…
UPD:
Over 1 mil. vaccines from last year’s frenzy expired, while only 1 in 10 was required…
One million pandemic vaccines are on their way to the Ano Liosia landfill. A year after receiving the long awaited vaccines with which the «defense» of the Greek population against the charging flue would be built, health authorities in Greece are officially putting the «expired» stamp on the pandemic, sending 1 mil. doses to the garbage.
The specific destruction protocol is prepared. Trucks are constantly moving the vaccines that remained in hospitals to the Central Laboratory of Public Health (KEDY) in Vari. The officials record in every detail the data on the expired vaccines, e.g. lot number, company, date of receipt etc. The furnace of the special incinerator at Pasteur Institute, who are sponsoring the conversion of the vaccines from medical formulations to common waste, is warming up.
Approximately 2,000 packs, each containing 500 doses of vaccine, will be sent to the Pasteur Institute in a few days. The combination of high pressure and high temperature within 6-7 minutes is sufficient to destroy the contents of the once precious vials.
The destruction process will be completed with the transfer to the Ano Liosia landfill, where the vaccines will be deposited like normal trash onto the huge mountains of waste. Same thing will happen in the second half of 2011 when the rest of the national stock, 2,1 mil. doses, expire.
We bought 3,6 mil. vaccines and inoculated only 365,000 people
One million pandemic vaccines are on their way to the Ano Liosia landfill. A year after receiving the long awaited vaccines with which the «defense» of the Greek population against the charging flue would be built, health authorities in Greece are officially putting the «expired» stamp on the pandemic, sending 1 mil. doses to the garbage.
The specific destruction protocol is prepared. Trucks are constantly moving the vaccines that remained in hospitals to the Central Laboratory of Public Health (KEDY) in Vari. The officials record in every detail the data on the expired vaccines, e.g. lot number, company, date of receipt etc. The furnace of the special incinerator at Pasteur Institute, who are sponsoring the conversion of the vaccines from medical formulations to common waste, is warming up.
Approximately 2,000 packs, each containing 500 doses of vaccine, will be sent to the Pasteur Institute in a few days. The combination of high pressure and high temperature within 6-7 minutes is sufficient to destroy the contents of the once precious vials.
The destruction process will be completed with the transfer to the Ano Liosia landfill, where the vaccines will be deposited like normal trash onto the huge mountains of waste. Same thing will happen in the second half of 2011 when the rest of the national stock, 2,1 mil. doses, expire.
We bought 3,6 mil. vaccines and inoculated only 365,000 people
The Ministry of Health, and specifically the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KE.E.L.P.NO.), received 3,636,700 doses of vaccine. Let’s not forget that in August 2009, 16 million doses of vaccine were ordered but only two months later, new scientific data on the percentage of the population to be vaccinated led the leadership of the Ministry of Health to cancel the contract for 8 million of the vaccines.
The remaining 8 mil ordered by the KE.E.L.P.NO. came in installments. Gradually, from November 2009 until January 2010, KEELPNO received 3,636,000. Of these, 1,233,000 were allocated to local vaccination centers. Altogether, only 365,000 people were vaccinated.
However, it is estimated that the amount of used vaccines is 500,000, as they come in doses of ten, which after opening were preserved for 24 hours, and therefore their administration had more «tare». Last February the stock contained 3.1 doses. Since May 2010, however, the stock kept decreasing while the lots with expired vaccines kept increasing. The first 40,000 doses expired last May. Several hundred thousand lots expired in July and others last August.
Last November, scientists gave warnings of a devastating new influenza virus that threatened mainly young and healthy people. The health system was on alert and officials from the Ministry of Health expected the new vaccines to deal with the flu.
A year later the alarm has expired, the Ministry of Health has canceled the contracts with Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi-Pasteur, claiming the money it has paid, the A(H1N1) virus is «swimming» inactively in the trivalent seasonal influenza vaccine in circulation and the pandemic vaccines are going to the landfill.
For the purchase of vaccines and the general flu treatment the Ministry of Health received a loan of 225 million guaranteed by the Greek state. But circles of the previous leadership of the Ministry of Health defend this loan, which essentially burdens the Greek taxpayers, saying that on one hand the needs of the country in response to an influenza pandemic had to be met, and on the other, that the money saved from any cancellation of obtained orders will be used to fill other needs of the NHS.
Vaccines in numbers:
* 3,636,000 doses received by KE.E.L.P.NO.
* 8 euro is the cost of each vaccine
* 365,000 citizens were vaccinated
* 150,000 doses count as «tare»
* 1 mil. expired last summer
* 2,1 mil. will expire in 2011
* 2,000 packs, 500 doses each, will go to the incinerator at Pasteur Institute
* It takes 6 to 7 minutes to nullify the contents
The remaining 8 mil ordered by the KE.E.L.P.NO. came in installments. Gradually, from November 2009 until January 2010, KEELPNO received 3,636,000. Of these, 1,233,000 were allocated to local vaccination centers. Altogether, only 365,000 people were vaccinated.
However, it is estimated that the amount of used vaccines is 500,000, as they come in doses of ten, which after opening were preserved for 24 hours, and therefore their administration had more «tare». Last February the stock contained 3.1 doses. Since May 2010, however, the stock kept decreasing while the lots with expired vaccines kept increasing. The first 40,000 doses expired last May. Several hundred thousand lots expired in July and others last August.
Last November, scientists gave warnings of a devastating new influenza virus that threatened mainly young and healthy people. The health system was on alert and officials from the Ministry of Health expected the new vaccines to deal with the flu.
A year later the alarm has expired, the Ministry of Health has canceled the contracts with Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi-Pasteur, claiming the money it has paid, the A(H1N1) virus is «swimming» inactively in the trivalent seasonal influenza vaccine in circulation and the pandemic vaccines are going to the landfill.
For the purchase of vaccines and the general flu treatment the Ministry of Health received a loan of 225 million guaranteed by the Greek state. But circles of the previous leadership of the Ministry of Health defend this loan, which essentially burdens the Greek taxpayers, saying that on one hand the needs of the country in response to an influenza pandemic had to be met, and on the other, that the money saved from any cancellation of obtained orders will be used to fill other needs of the NHS.
Vaccines in numbers:
* 3,636,000 doses received by KE.E.L.P.NO.
* 8 euro is the cost of each vaccine
* 365,000 citizens were vaccinated
* 150,000 doses count as «tare»
* 1 mil. expired last summer
* 2,1 mil. will expire in 2011
* 2,000 packs, 500 doses each, will go to the incinerator at Pasteur Institute
* It takes 6 to 7 minutes to nullify the contents
UPD:
Ακολουθήστε το protothema.gr στο Google News και μάθετε πρώτοι όλες τις ειδήσεις
Δείτε όλες τις τελευταίες Ειδήσεις από την Ελλάδα και τον Κόσμο, τη στιγμή που συμβαίνουν, στο Protothema.gr
Δείτε όλες τις τελευταίες Ειδήσεις από την Ελλάδα και τον Κόσμο, τη στιγμή που συμβαίνουν, στο Protothema.gr
ΡΟΗ ΕΙΔΗΣΕΩΝ
Ειδήσεις
Δημοφιλή
Σχολιασμένα
