Hundreds of thousands of flu shots ordered from Europe last year amid fears of a nationwide shortage have now expired and may go to waste, potentially costing taxpayers millions of dollars, officials say Wednesday in an Associated Press report.
The shots are designed to be used within months of their manufacture because influenza strains vary from year to year. They expired Monday, Illinois Deputy Gov. Bradley Tusk tells the AP.
According to the news agency, llinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich ordered at least 610,000 flu shots last October.
The state agreed to pay about $2.5 million for 256,000 flu doses. The rest would have gone to New Mexico and the two cities. But the FDA withheld its approval, saying it could not guarantee the safety of the shots, the agency says.
The governor accuses the FDA of "acting as a shill for the big pharmaceutical companies."
"It's a shame that politics got in the way of helping people there, just like it did here," Tusk says to AP.
