One supplier bad planning: critics

From the Winnipeg Sun:
Critics assailed the federal government yesterday for going to only one company for the H1N1 vaccine, saying it should have had a plan to avoid the bottlenecks Canadians are encountering at flu-shot clinics.

"Getting 50 million doses from one company is like trying to fill 50 million cups of water from the same tap," said NDP health critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis.

The attacks came as Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer, confirmed that drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline is shipping extra vaccine antigen out of the country because it cannot fill vials for the Canadian market any faster than its current pace.

The vaccine antigen is stored in bulk, then passed through a "fill line" into vials for quality control and distribution. But the antigen is being produced faster than the vials can be filled at GSK's plant in Ste-Foy, Que. So the excess is being exported. ...more