More than 57,000 seasonal flu vaccine jabs worth over €186,000 remained unused over the past five years.

A total of 475,000 jabs were ordered between 2005 and 2009 but 57,136 had to be dumped because they were not taken up.

At an average cost of about €3 per jab, the government forked out a total of €1.5 million for the seasonal vaccine over the period, according to figures seen by The Times. An average of 11,427 vaccines a year remain unused, which adds up to about €186,300 in money terms.

The seasonal vaccines are free for people 55 years and over and for those suffering from chronic illnesses.

The issue of unused seasonal vaccines was highlighted recently by Community Care Parliamentary Secretary Mario Galea who expressed his exasperation at the waste. "This is a very frustrating situation and a waste of taxpayers' money. It makes me very angry."

He admitted that the Maltese were slightly sceptical when it came to taking vaccines. In fact, Malta still had over 239,620 unused swine flu vaccines in stock, worth almost €600,000.

Even though the government had campaigned heavily for people to get vaccinated when the global swine flu pandemic broke out, only 92,043 took it up. In a parliamentary question, Health Minister Joe Cassar said the government was "considering" what to do with the extra doses.

Similarly, the government bought extra seasonal vaccines in 2005 when the avian flu pandemic broke out and ordered 110,000 at €3 each. However, this time there was a high take-up and only 6,096 remained unused.

In 2008, the Primary Health Department, on the recommendation of the immunisation policy advisory committee, carried out a widespread media campaign in the run-up to and during the vaccination period for seasonal flu. The campaign worked as there were only 9,990 vaccines left over.

However, a spokesman for the Community Care Parliamentary Secretariat explained that, last year, the government did not carry out a similar campaign and this led to a very slow uptake. "From January 2, people requesting the swine flu vaccine were also offered the seasonal flu vaccine and most of them accepted," the spokesman said.