Millions of Flu Shots to Be Destroyed

Still perfectly good, and possibly useful for a few more years, the vaccine will wind up being destroyed. This annual ritual is supposed to ensure that Americans get the most up-to-date vaccine, but the leftovers — more than 10 million of a record 110 million doses produced — will be destroyed before a new supply is guaranteed.

If it is a way to waste money and resources, a Congressionally funded initiative is probably behind it. Rummy's Tamiflu anyone??

Stockpiling leftover vaccine until new vaccine is available "doesn't sound like an unreasonable thing to be doing," said another vaccine scientist, Dr. Robert Belshe at St. Louis University. After all, usually only one of the three vaccine strains changes — often, only slightly. Twice in the last decade, the recipe didn't change at all, said Alexander Klimov, a CDC flu strain expert.

And three times in the last decade, the vaccine strains recommended for the United States in one winter were identical to what was recommended for the Southern hemisphere the following summer, he said.

Even better, it might be exactly what we need to use, why stock that??