Should Australia replace its influenza antiviral stockpiles?

Editor's note: this is an expanded version of Michael Woodhead's analysis published last month.

In a warehouse somewhere in Australia sit 3000 pallets of Tamiflu, latex gloves and other medical supplies for managing a pandemic — all past their use-by date and destined for landfill.

The expired products have already cost the taxpayer almost a quarter of a billion dollars — and even the cost of keeping them in a warehouse prior to disposal is an extra half-a-million dollars a year. This is the price that Australia is paying for its