The U.S. flu vaccine shortage–one of seven vaccine shortages in the past two years–is just the latest symptom of an ailing national vaccination strategy, public health experts and two federal reports say.
Federal officials scrounged for more flu vaccine overseas in the midst of a serious influenza outbreak.
Last year, there were shortages of shots for diphtheria-tetanus-whooping cough, measles-mumps-rubella, pneumococcal disease, tetanus and chicken pox. In late 2001 and early 2002, the flu vaccine also was in short supply. The seven shortages disturb Sloan, chair of a recent vaccine-policy study by the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine. The U.S. General Accounting Office, Congress’ watchdog arm, has identified additional shortages that required rationing.
While immunizations have improved public health dramatically, the Institute of Medicine study, released in August, cited numerous “warning signs” of problems with vaccinations. Those signs include “delays in reimbursement to health care providers for vaccine costs, shortages in the vaccine supply system, dwindling numbers of vaccine manufacturers in the United States, gaps in the coverage of recommended vaccines by private health plans and hesitation to recommend newly licensed vaccines because of concerns about higher costs.”
Even before this year’s flu vaccine shortage, state and local health departments reported at least 49 instances in which shortages forced them to ration vaccines, GAO investigators found last year.
The latest instance of rationing is in Colorado, where doctors have been advised to give flu shots only to people in high-risk categories, including the young, old, chronically ill and health care workers or family members of those at risk.