Tamiflu backup to be maintained
Hong Kong will continue to maintain a backup stock of 1 million doses of Tamiflu oral solution even though they could go to waste, the Centre for Health Protection said yesterday.
It was explaining why 1,003,910 doses of Tamiflu oral solution had expired without being used. Another 501,120 doses will expire by the next financial year.
'We keep it as backup so if there is a flu pandemic or large outbreak, we can consider using them after testing them,' said a spokeswoman for the centre.
The department has stockpiled 20 million doses of antivirals as part of its flu pandemic preparedness. So far the government has spent HK$289 million to keep the stockpile, which stood at 3.7 million in 2005.
The centre said the remaining 19,646,250 doses - 88.4 per cent of which are Tamiflu capsules and 9 per cent Relenza spray - have expiry dates ranging from 2010 to 2014.
Food and Health Secretary York Chow Yat-ngok, replying to a written question in the Legislative Council, said the Department of Health regularly checked the expiry dates.
Dr Chow also said an expert committee of the Centre for Health Protection was deliberating on the stockpiling of human vaccines against H5 avian flu virus and the target groups for vaccination.
