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Vaccine Delays Fuel Fresh Worries
By Lauren Stanforth, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
November 5, 2005
Some area flu clinics are canceling because demand is far outstripping the availability.
Mike and Louise Kinney stood in the doorway of Greece Town Hall's boardroom Friday morning, looking out over more than 150 people waiting for the same thing they were:
Flu shots.
"If you come here, you better make sure you bring a dinner," said Mike Kinney, 67, of Spencerport.
Greece Town Hall's annual flu shot clinic is always busy. But Friday's crush of people - mostly senior citizens - illustrated a growing problem of vaccine availability.
The vaccine distribution to doctors' offices, which normally begins in early October, has seen delays, forcing many people to turn to public clinics. The effect is that demand is exceeding supply, so clinics are getting canceled.
Maxim Health Systems, the national company that distributes vaccine at local Tops and Eckerd stores, canceled some clinics this week without warning - and then released a statement Friday announcing the cancellation of all its retail flu clinics nationwide because of unexpected demand.
Maxim had 13 more clinics scheduled between today and Nov. 16 in Monroe County.
Health officials said vaccine is trickling in from Chiron Corp. But Nancy Adams, executive director of the Monroe County Medical Society, said she is concerned that some high-risk patients, such as the elderly or those with chronic health conditions, might be left without protection this winter.
"It's difficult to predict if we'll have enough," Adams said. "We still need people to have some patience over the next few weeks as it comes in. But I am worried."
Change in plans
Maxim was a provider for about half of about 80 scheduled clinics in Monroe County, as well for many others in the region. In explaining its decision to cancel future clinics, Steve Wright, the company's national director of wellness services, said, "Our retail partners have been kind enough to lend their locations, but all of the sudden they get a lot of angry people because you can't have unlimited doses at public events. It becomes virtually impossible to have enough vaccine." Maxim has decided to use the vaccine it has left for its corporate accounts, such as businesses and assisted living facilities.
The fear is that Maxim's cancellations, combined with the distribution delays to doctors' offices, will fuel large turnouts at other clinics and force overwhelmed clinic providers to close their doors, too.
"We're still confident about next week, but you never know," said Germaine Reinhardt, a spokeswoman for the University of Rochester Medical Center, referring to a UR-run clinic scheduled for Tuesday in Gates. "Everyone knows there have been these delays in shipments."
In fact, some people at Greece Town Hall had to wait Friday as 400 doses of vaccine were delivered by UPS from the Greater Rochester International Airport.
"We even offered to pick it up from the airport," said Marlene Downs, associate director of corporate health for the UR's Community Nursing Center, which ran Friday's clinic.
Chiron returns
The fact that Chiron shipments are beginning to arrive is a sign that more vaccine should be on the way, said John Ricci, spokesman for the Monroe County Health Department.
Chiron is the company that had its license pulled last year amid concerns about contaminated vaccine. The problems caused a nationwide shortage, as at least 46 million doses never reached the market.
This year, doctors who had been Chiron customers and tried to switch to vaccine producer Sanofi Pasteur found they couldn't even get their foot in the door. So they have had to wait on Chiron.
Chiron initially promised that up to 26 million doses would arrive in the United States by the end of October.
But Adams said Chiron will now make fewer than 18 million doses and it isn't known when they will arrive.
A survey released Thursday by the Medical Society of the State of New York said that almost 60 percent of physicians in the state have little or no flu vaccine.
Both Ricci and Adams are asking people to sit tight for a few more weeks in hope that doctors get the vaccine they need. They emphasize that peak flu season does not hit the Rochester area until January, and that shots can be given into early December and still be effective. Ricci said there have been no flu cases reported yet to the Health Department.
"It's really unfortunate we are yet again in this situation," Ricci said, in reference to last year's flu shot shortage. "This is not something that's within our control."
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