Daily: PM halted purchase of up to 20 million doses of swine flu vaccine

The Czech daily Mladá fronta Dnes has reported that the former Czech government considered buying up to 20 million doses of the swine flu vaccine for the country of some ten million, before the contract was halted at the last moment by interim Prime Minister Jan Fischer. The Czech Republic eventually decided on a million vaccines at a cost of around 220 million crowns (the equivalent of around 11.5 million US dollars). By halting the deal Mladá fronta writes that the Czech government narrowly avoided a situation similar to that of France or Belgium, which ordered numbers larger than their populations and have now been unable to make use of all the vaccines (originally, it was thought two doses per person would be required). Interim Prime Minister Jan Fischer reportedly opposed the deal as it would have been agreed without a tender. Meanwhile the firm that was considered, Baxter, reportedly would not have been responsible for any vaccine side-effects.