McGimpsey right to buy in vaccines
THE Department of Health in Northern Ireland cannot in any way be faulted for having 60 per cent or half a million of its swine flu vaccines unused, now that the threat from the pandemic has passed.
When the pandemic broke in the middle of last year, Health Minister Michael McGimpsey estimated that he required 61m to effectively combat the lethal virus and he was given the unanimous backing of the Assembly Executive.
A significant section of the population, both young and old, availed of the precautionary jab and their action was justified in the knowledge that 18 deaths were recorded here as a direct result of swine flu symptoms.
Across the UK, deaths recorded from swine flu represented only 0.026 per cent of the population, but one death is one too many and it is very difficult to put a price on a person's life.
Dr Tom Black, of the British Medical Association, maintains it was better to have too many than too few vaccines.
This view is, not surprisingly, upheld by the Stormont health scrutiny committee with members rightly acknowledging that the Minister had only one choice to make - to ensure vaccine stock was sufficient to cover all eventualities in the potential spread of the virus.
Committee chairman, the DUP's Jim Wells was unequivocal, stating: "I have no doubt lives were saved by the Minister's action. Priority groups were vaccinated and lives saved."
The swine flu vaccine has a two-year shelf life and, should the virus recur over the next year, the existing stocks can be immediately put into use.
A hefty amount of public money was laid out in this life-saving initiative, but it has got to be seen as money well spent.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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