Adequate Supply of Flu Vaccine Is Predicted

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Adequate Supply of Flu Vaccine Is Predicted

By GARDINER HARRIS

Published: October 25, 2005

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 - Top federal health officials acknowledged Monday that there were some spot shortages of flu vaccine this year but said that overall supplies should be adequate.

Some doctors and public health clinics have said they have limited supplies of flu vaccines this year. But Health and Human Services Secretary O. Leavitt and other top health officials said this situation should change in the coming weeks.

"We expect that where they lack vaccines, the situation will improve," said Dr. L. Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "This is the same pattern that we see every year, and over time we will catch up."

Eight states have reported flu cases, a normal level at this point, Dr. Gerberding said. Flu season usually peaks in January and February, she said, and so people have many weeks to be vaccinated.

Dr. S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said flu vaccine supplies were tight because the country was in a "transition" period. As more people decide to be vaccinated against the flu every year, vaccine supplies will become more abundant and reliable, Dr. Fauci said.

This change will also help if a pandemic were to strike, he said.

In the wake of a supply crunch last year, federal health officials had told doctors that through this past Sunday they were to vaccinate only the elderly, the very young, the sick and health care providers. On Monday, however, vaccines were made available to all.

Federal officials said 70 million to 88 million doses of flu vaccines should be available this year, with much of the supply being rolled out in the coming weeks. In the past, interest in being vaccinated has declined sharply after the second week in December, so vaccine supplies that arrived late in the season have sometimes been discarded. Thus, the timing of flu vaccine shipments is crucial.

Mr. Leavitt also took care to distinguish between fears of a bird flu that could cause millions of deaths worldwide and the annual effects of the seasonal flu.

He said the Bush administration was in the midst of revising its long-awaited plan for dealing with an outbreak of a pandemic of avian flu. But he pointed out that the seasonal flu was also dangerous.

"It kills an average of 36,000 Americans a year, leads 200,000 Americans to be hospitalized and causes countless lost school and work days," he said. "Much of this can be prevented by simply getting a flu shot."

Dr. C. von Eschenbach, the acting commissioner of the food and drugs, also announced that he had formed a "rapid response team" to work with industry, academia and government agencies to speed the manufacturing of antiviral drugs like Tamiflu and the study of vaccines against bird flu.

Dr. von Eschenbach also said the F.D.A. was on the lookout for counterfeit supplies of Tamiflu, although he said none had been spotted so far. He warned people against buying drugs from unlicensed pharmacies or Web sites that had not been certified by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/25/health/25flu.html?th & emc=th