H1N1 vaccines destroyed just when city needed it

The Serum Institute of India (SII), the city-based pharmaceutical major that developed the country's first intranasal vaccine to fight H1N1 infection, has destroyed around 30 lakh doses of the vaccine. The stock was worth approximately Rs 5 crore, with a single shot costing Rs 158. According to the medical fraternity, this an extremely unfortunate development, particularly at this time when more and more H1N1 cases are being reported once again. The vaccine could have helped people develop immunity against the deadly virus.

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According to experts, the vaccine, Nosovac, was launched in July 2010 in response to the pandemic and did very well initially. However, as the number of cases abated and immunity developed, the sale of the vaccine too went down. Big money was spent by SII on H1N1 vaccine production. Approximately Rs 47 crore was spent in setting up a new manufacturing facility only to handle H1N1 vaccine while Rs 22 crore was spent on getting two specialised machines besides a team of 100-odd people who were working on the vaccine development with 15 core group of scientists and researchers.

However, company officials said they did their best to use the stocks instead of destroying them. "We even tried distributing it free of cost for a long time through doctors and NGO's, but it hardly found any taker. Since the consignment was nearing its expiry date, we decided to destroy them," said Dr Prasad Kulkarni, additional medical director, SII. Dr Rajesh Dhere, Senior Director (Vaccines) confirmed around 30 lakh doses were destroyed. "I can't remember the exact number offhand but it was substantial. It could have been put to better use had people shown interest," said Dhere. At present, SII is in the process of developing a trivalent vaccine against H1N1, H3N2 and influenza B strain. So far the company has completed the stage of clinical tests on animals and will soon start human trials, said an official.

The vaccine was especially useful at this time when positive cases are again being reported and the climate is conducive to infections. "Since July 4-5 positive cases have been reported according to media reports. The spurt in such cases has been witnessed after a long time because of the drop in temperature. Besides, weather conditions are also conducive for viral infections such as H1N1.u00a0In this period, we will advise people who haven't already taken immunisation to get inoculated against H1N1," said Dr Devendra Shirole, national vice-president, Indian Medical Association. Pediatrician Dr Dilip Sarda recalled how he kept free stocks of Nasovac for months and yet people didn't take it.

"Till the time there was a pandemic situation, people were rushing to take it. But that time stocks weren't even available. Once number of H1N1 cases came down, even though company supplied us free vaccines and we told our patients, they refused to take it. They think they will not get it as people have developed herd immunity. True there is herd immunity but how do they know that they are in that herd or not? It is better to be safe than sorry and this destroyed stock is an unforgivable loss," said Dr Sarda.

Rs 5 crore Estimated cost of the stock
Rs 158 Cost of a single vaccine dose

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