Health Secretary Andy Burnham has been forced to defend the Government's handling of the swine flu crisis after it emerged stockpiles of unused vaccine could be given away.
Labour's Paul Flynn (Newport W) said early fears that 65,000 people would die in the UK as a result of the pandemic had "cost the country dearly".
Mr Burnham said he would "make no apology" for taking necessary steps to protect the public.
Figures last week showed fewer than 5,000 new cases of the disease, down from an estimated 9,000 a week in mid-December.
The figures showed 360 people have died after contracting the disease in the UK, including 251 in England, 28 in Wales, 64 in Scotland and 17 in Northern Ireland.
At Commons question time, Mr Flynn said the "unscientific exaggeration" had "cost the country dearly financially, in stress and distorted NHS priorities".
Mr Burnham told him: "We had to take every step possible to keep the country safe through what ... was a World Health Organisation pandemic, not declared by this Government but by the World Health Organisation.
"When we saw events in Mexico in the spring and then the exceptional spike in flu cases in this country in the summer, there were high levels of public concern.
"I would make no apology for making all the necessary preparations to keep the public safe through that. I think we have come through the pandemic because of the strength of the plans and the preparations that this Government put in place."
The Government is considering selling or giving away some of the surplus doses of swine flu vaccine it has stockpiled. It has received 23.9 million doses of vaccine from drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline and five million from rival company Baxter.
