Government is in talks with GSK to offload surplus swine flu vaccine

The Department of Health in England is negotiating with GlaxoSmithKline over what can be done with millions of doses of swine flu vaccine it has ordered under contract from the company but that are now unlikely to be needed.

GSK has so far delivered 24 million doses of H1N1 vaccine, of which 15.5 million have been sent out to health services. Baxter, the other contracted manufacturer, has delivered five million doses, of which 0.6 million have been despatched.

But the government signed up to around 90 million doses in May 2009, with buying power for up to 132 million if a pandemic were declared.

Plans to extend vaccination beyond the designated priority groups have been shelved as swine flu activity continues to …