'It requires, however, a very large stockpile of anti-viral drugs. Our work demonstrates that even in countries where the anti-viral stockpile is not sufficient to treat 25 percent of the population, the minimum level suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO), it is possible to reduce morbidity and excess mortality by prioritizing the use of anti-virals by age'.

Merler and his colleagues modelled the effects of flu outbreaks of varying virulence, and found that, depending on the behaviour of the virus, treatment of those aged over 65 years may not lead to any significant reduction in the cumulative number of cases.