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The number of doses of a swine flu vaccine the Government is buying from GlaxoSmithKline has been reduced to around a third of the original order and two thirds of the original value will be paid.
The deal with Glaxo will see the delivery of a total of 34.8 million doses instead of 90 million doses.
The Government said no cancellation fee will be demanded by the company and claimed the deal is “fair value”, providing “significant savings”, although it refused to say what the difference was between the number of doses received and the reduced payment.
The Department of Health said the latest evidence on swine flu had convinced it that vaccination of the entire population would not be necessary.
However the firm has been promised that the UK will buy an as yet unspecified quantity of the H5N1 bird flu vaccine and the flu drug Relenza. Bird flu vaccines will now be stockpiled, in case an outbreak occurs.
Copyright Press Association 2010
Health Protection Agency on swine flu
