Nov. 10, 2005 -- Slow production from the same company that caused last year
Nov. 10, 2005 -- Slow production from the same company that caused last year's flu vaccine shortage is now causing vaccination delays at clinics and doctors' offices across the country, a federal health official acknowledged Thursday.
Vaccine makers are expected to produce a near-record number of flu shots this year. But so far smaller health clinics and individual doctors' offices are having trouble obtaining vaccines and have been forced to turn patients away.
The delays can be traced to Chiron Corp., said CDC Director Julie Gerberding, MD.
Last year the company's plant in Liverpool, England, was shut down by British regulators because of safety problems. That move left the U.S. without 48 million expected vaccine doses and caused shortages across the country during the last flu season.
The Chiron plant is again making vaccines, but production is slower than expected, Gerberding said. The company, which sells vaccines to many doctor offices and individual clinics, has also announced that it will produce fewer than the 18 million vaccine doses it originally projected for this year.
"We're sorry that we have another frustrating year for some people," Gerberding said. She urged people seeking vaccination to "be persistent" until supplies arrive.
Uneven Distribution
Meanwhile, large drugstores and supermarket chains in many cities are offering vaccinations while doctors' offices go without supplies. "People who place large orders for vaccine tend to get preferential treatment from distributors," Gerberding told reporters.
Republican Rep. Fred Upton complained to federal health officials at a hearing earlier this week that more than 9,000 residents in his western Michigan district have complained that they can't get vaccines.
Gerberding said that the spread of seasonal flu so far is light in most states. "This gives us time to get vaccines out there," she said.
She added that flu vaccine demand is probably up in many parts of the country, both because of last year's shortages and widespread attention on separate preparations for a possible bird flu pandemic.
"Influenza's been on people's minds," she said.
Chiron and three other manufacturers who supply the U.S. market with flu vaccine have already produced about 71 million doses. The companies are expected to distribute between 10 million and 12 million more doses by December, though the companies say they don't yet know exactly how much they will produce.
Sanofi-Pasteur is the only manufacturer that makes flu shots in the U.S. The company has already produced 55 million doses this year.
