Qatar's Supreme Council of Health (SCH) has decided to cancel imports of the H1N1 vaccine, after a drop in the number of H1N1 influenza cases in the country.

Qatar had ordered about 1.5 million doses of the vaccine, of which 500,000 doses were delivered, Dr Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani, director of the Public Health Department at SCH, was quoted as saying in The Peninsula.

The SCH may cancel orders for about 620,000 doses of the vaccine that are considered excess and replace them with other medicines, he said.

“Demand for the vaccine has come down with a decline in H1N1 cases. However, we will make sure that the country has enough stocks to meet any possible surge in the cases in future,” he said.

Although the country had stocked half a million doses of the vaccine, only about 40,000 people have got the shots until now, including 21,000 children.