American Samoa is among the recipients of donated surplus seasonal flu vaccines from the Honolulu-based Tripler Army Medical Center.
The hospital donated 17,500 doses of seasonal influenza vaccine that would otherwise have been discarded to American Samoa, Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Marshall Islands.
Hawaiian Airlines and Continental Micronesia Airlines distributed the vaccine in partnership with the Army.
Tripler's logistics medical officer, Daniel O'Neil, says this programme fosters good relations with these countries and gives Tripler an outlet to use these vaccines instead of just discarding them.