I'm just thankful that I was able to dodge all those large chunks of the sky that were falling
The H1N1 influenza outbreak, which began in April last year, was marked by controversies over whether the WHO and public health authorities had exaggerated the risks of H1N1 and created unnecessary alarm by declaring it a 'pandemic'.
The WHO has also been criticized for its pandemic alert system that focuses on geographical spread of the outbreak rather than its severity, and on alleged conflicts of interests between health officials and experts and vaccine makers.
The review will examine how well the WHO and its 193 member states prepared for and responded to the swine flu outbreak, whether the risks were fully understood or exaggerated and poor countries' access to vaccines, WHO flu expert Keiji Fukuda said.
The United States ordered enough antigen to make 229 million doses of vaccine as the swine flu pandemic began to ramp up a year ago. About 162 million doses have been shipped and between 81 and 91 million doses have been administered, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Washington Post reported that an estimated 71.5 million doses of H1N1 vaccine may have to be discarded if not used before expiry, costing millions in taxpayer dollars.