Green Party Health and Wellbeing Spokesperson, Kevin Hague, said today that it was "unfair and dangerous" for people buying Tamiflu directly from pharmacists to be faced with a bill of over $70, which is simply unaffordable for some families.

Tamiflu goes on direct sale today from pharmacies for people with genuine 'flu' symptoms. This is part of New Zealand's regular annual anti-flu plan, rather than a response to the concerns about the H1N1 strain (Swine flu), but the recent concerns about H1N1 have highlighted the problem.

"The principle here has to be that people with the flu should be able to get effective treatment - regardless of their ability to pay - but a cost of more than $70 will take access to Tamiflu out of the reach of many."

Mr. Hague said this was especially the case where the flu hit a family and multiple courses of Tamiflu were required. He said that usually this would mean nobody from the family would access treatment, but it could also result in courses of the drug being shared, which would be a disaster.

"If people are infected with a flu virus but taking less than the proper, effective dose of a treatment, this provides the classic situation in which drug-resistant strains of a virus can develop. This is potentially very dangerous."

The Green Party is also concerned that Tamiflu should only be used for serious cases of influenza not for everyday colds and mild influenza. The widespread use of Tamiflu could also deplete our national stocks.

As the Pharmacy Guild has flagged there are issues with contagious people going to the Pharmacy to get Tamiflu for a further discussion of this please see Kevin Hague's blog.