Faced with about a half million soon-to-expire doses of swine flu vaccine, Maryland health officials announced this afternoon a new vaccination campaign next week with 150 free clinics statewide. (See a schedule here)

The state and the nation are confronted with a predicament: try to convince a skeptical public it’s not too late to get vaccinated against the H1N1 virus, or throw away millions of doses if they aren’t used before they expire.

The state’s effort comes on the heels of reports in The Washington Post that the federal government has nearly 72 million unused doses of H1N1 vaccine that could be thrown away.

Much of the vaccine hasn't yet expired, but most if it will by the end of June, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, in a telephone press briefing to reporters. She said every year some portion of the flu vaccine is discarded. This year, in particular, officials wanted to have enough for every American who wanted one, she said.

"It’s unlikely that all the vaccine out there will be used up,” she said. “But we made a conscious decision to be prepared and assured that we would have more than enough vaccine.”

The overabundance of vaccine raises questions about how the government handled a more than $1 billion mass vaccination campaign to confront the H1N1 pandemic.

At the height of the outbreak last fall, infectious disease experts and public health officials warned of dire consequences if people didn't get vaccinated. The virus was new, spreading fast and unlike seasonal strains, was striking the young and largely sparing the elderly.

But vaccine makers couldn’t fill the government’s requests fast enough and initial vaccine shortfalls left anxious-vaccine seekers frustrated. By December, however, infections began to wane and once-mobbed vaccine clinics saw just a trickle of people.

Maryland’s renewed push to use up the vaccine comes as the state reported today its 45th death from the virus. Nationwide, the virus has sickened 60 million people, responsible for 265,000 hospitalizations and 12,000 deaths. While about 36,000 people die in a typical flu season, the CDC points out this new flu has meant severe complications for children, pregnant women and people with underlying health problems.