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Mainz (dpa / lrs) - The pharmacies in Rhineland-Palatinate are likely to be sitting on many thousands of doses of flu vaccine.
"In many pharmacies there is still vaccine that we could have used in November," said Frank Eickmann, spokesman for the Rhineland-Palatinate Pharmacists' Association, on Thursday.
Accordingly, necessary subsequent deliveries, with which the great demand of the previous season was to be met, sometimes did not arrive until mid-December.
"In mid-November we had enough patients, but no vaccine, and in December enough vaccine, but no more patients who wanted to be vaccinated."
According to Eickmann, the demand for flu vaccinations was higher than ever last season.
The pre-orders that the pharmacists made at the beginning of the year on the basis of the estimated needs of the doctors before the start of the corona pandemic were therefore completely inoculated in mid-November.
According to Eickmann, the subsequent deliveries of the national vaccine reserve organized by the Federal Ministry of Health were only delivered to the pharmacies between the beginning of December and the middle of December - and thus not in time, as demand had already declined again at that time.
"The vaccine portions reached the market a little too late."
What caused the late delivery is not known, said Eickmann.
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According to Eickmann, pharmacists in the country have to bear the financial burden for the vaccine doses that are now probably superfluous.
Cans that were not inoculated would have to be destroyed.
The regular flu virus mutations make the production of new vaccines necessary.
According to the regional association, a dose costs around 20 euros.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210208-99-344724 / 2