It appears that the plan to have every Canadian vaccinated against swine flu is not coming cheap. New estimates show that the vaccination program could cost more than $2 billion.
The vaccine has been available to Canadians for only about three weeks now, but according to a report in
The Globe and Mail, $1.51-billion has already been spent.
That figure was reached after reviewing estimates from federal, provincial and territorial governments.
The actual figure might be even higher, because many provinces are still revising their costs, while others have yet to release total estimates.
In September, provincial and territorial health ministers predicted the cost of buying and delivering the vaccine at around $806-million, or about $16 per dose.
But based on these new estimates, the total cost is currently running at about $30 a shot --and climbing.
The cost of buying 50.4 million doses has been estimated by federal officials at $403 million. But there have been many extra costs incurred by Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Those agencies have racked up the bills by:
- developing emergency and strategic plans
- conducting surveillance and outbreak management
- overtime and standby pay for regulatory and lab staff
- conducting rapid research
Earlier this week, Treasury Board President Vic Toews released 2009-10 supplementary budget estimates and estimated those costs at about $78 million.
But related provincial costs were not included; those are sure to cost millions of dollars more.
