CDC Proposes Plan to Combat the Flu Vaccine Shortage
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 — Responding to the loss of half the nation’s expected flu vaccine supply, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Aventis Pasteur, a vaccine manufacturer, announced Tuesday that 7.7 million doses of vaccines not yet sold would be allocated to the high-risk population in two phases based on need. Regardless of the reallocation, however, some of the high-risk population may go without a vaccine this year.
Last week, Chiron, the influenza manufacturer from which Massachusetts purchased 73 percent of its supply, informed the United States it could not release the purchased vaccines because of regulatory action taken by the United Kingdom, where the vaccine is manufactured.
While Massachusetts planned to have 630,000 doses of flu vaccine, only about 80,000 doses have been received, leaving the state with about 13 percent of the requested vaccines. The Gloucester Board of Health does not have any flu vaccine at this time, and when it does become available it will be administered to those in most need according to the guidelines of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
“It’s been a challenging week for all of us,” said CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding, who laid out a plan to best combat the shortage. Working with Aventis Pasteur, the only other flu vaccine manufacturer licensed by the Food and Drug Administration to distribute the medicine in the United States, the CDC intends to target the high-risk population -children, seniors, pregnant women and those with chronic diseases-and to direct the diminished supply to states that have yet to receive any flu vaccine supply and to Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers
“The overall goal of this is to target the vaccine that we do have to the people who will get the most benefit from that vaccine and to do it in a way that is fair and equitable to the greatest number of people across our country,” Gerberding said.
Gerberding estimates that about 42 million to 50 million people meet the high-risk criteria. “There may be some people who may not get a vaccine that really need it,” she said.
Aventis Pasteur, located in Pennsylvania, has about 3.2 million extra doses to distribute to high-risk groups across the nation. The CDC is working with the company to create a “comprehensive picture of who needs it, where they are and where the vaccine is,” Gerberding said.
The CDC has stockpiled about 4.5 million doses that it will distribute in a second phase once geographical gaps are determined. With the help of pharmacies, grocery stores and health clinics, the CDC will be able to track where flu activity is heating up and allocate these remaining vaccines.
“This is a short-term solution,” Rep. John Tierney, D-Salem, said on Tuesday. “We need to have a much larger perspective on this.” Tierney questioned why the government has only two flu vaccine manufacturers under contract and urged that the FDA, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services do more to solve this problem. “We need to think on a larger perspective on how we’re going to resolve the shortage of manufacturers.”
Gerberding said the shortage of manufacturers was an economic problem, noting that if there was “profit to be made they would be in the market.” She also said the CDC wants safe vaccines and manufacturers must follow the “strict FDA criteria” to be licensed.
Until there are more manufacturers or more availability of the vaccine, however, Gerberding said she is relying on people to “step aside” to save the vaccines for those at higher risk, and on the health care providers to use the “honor code” to stop price-gouging activities.
Additionally, like the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Gloucester Board of Health, she reminded people to “stay at home if you’re sick” and to use “common-sense methods of hygiene like covering your nose and mouth when you sneeze or cough.”
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