H1N1 vaccine fails to climb popularity charts

Month on, imported vaccine finds few takers among doctors; only 338 shots given so far

It's been a month since H1N1 vaccination began in the city for medical workers, yet the vaccine is far from being a hit. In the district, 338 people have taken a shot so far. Over 11,000 doses are still in cold storage with no takers.

Officials of the state family welfare bureau in charge of the vaccination programme said repeated attempts had failed to convince health workers to take the vaccine. "Doctors and medical workers aren't keen to take the vaccine. We have written to senior authorities for a solution and also sent letters to deans of medical colleges to ask their staff to cooperate," said Dr V M Kulkarni, assistant director, family welfare bureau.

Doctors in smaller cities like Nanded, Ahmednagar, Nashik, Satara and Kolhapur who were sent the doses have also refused to take it. Of the 5,000 doses sent, only a few have been taken.

"Medicos think it might not be safe to take the vaccine as it has come early and safety studies might have been rushed," said Dr Kalyani Deshpande, officer in swine flu control room. "But so far nothing has happened to those who took it."

At the pace at which vaccine is being administered it might take a few years to use up the stock. But according to officials in the health department, the expiry date of the Rs 300 per dose vaccine is in November.
Even if 3,000 doses are used up by November, that still means Rs 27 lakh of public money is likely to go waste.