Biomed Middle East

Kingdom gets refund for unused vaccines

The Ministry of Health announced Friday it received a SR114-million refund from GlaxoSmithKline for unused H1N1 vaccines procured during the 2009 H1N1 global outbreak where Saudi Arabia imported seven million doses of the vaccine as a precaution.

In a letter addressed to the health minister made public Friday, Prince Naif, second deputy premier and minister of interior, commended Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah and his team of officials at the Ministry of Health for careful disbursements of public funds and for successfully combating H1N1 in the Kingdom.

“We got the refund and it has been already credited to the relevant account of the MOH,” Health Ministry spokesman Khalid Al-Mirghalani told Arab News on Friday.

Saudi Arabia experienced an estimated 8,000 cases of swine flu and about 70 deaths during the pandemic.

Al-Mirghalani said a substantial quantity of vaccines were also sent to the National Guard Health Affairs and Medical Services Hospitals, the Ministry of Interior, the Saudi Red Crescent, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, university hospitals and the Ministry of Education.

The vaccination was administered to citizens and residents free of charge.

Arab News

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