By Sarah Green
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, Dec. 14
There”s no shortage of the influenza vaccine this year, but there”s no way to know how many Kansans will actually be vaccinated.
Though manufacturing problems caused shortages of the vaccine the past two years, there should be ample supply now, health officials said. Four factories are expected to produce about 115 million doses by the end of flu season in March 2007.
Yet there”s no way of estimating how many doses will be distributed to and administered to Kansans, said State Epidemiologist Dr. Gail Hansen. That”s because the number of doses is considered proprietary information by the manufacturers and they are not required to disclose it.
“The best I can tell you is that we expect to have 115 million doses available, and we”ve never given that many,” she said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention worked out an agreement with manufacturers in previous years to help move surplus doses to areas that needed the vaccine, but the number of doses moved and to where aren”t typically made available, Hansen said.
Public health officials would love to know how many residents are actually receiving vaccines, said Dr. Gianfranco Pezzino, director of public health studies at the Kansas Health Institute and newly named health officer for Shawnee County. But the free-market system under which the manufacturers operate doesn”t include that information.
Since most doses of the vaccine are sold directly to private clinics, hospitals and other providers, manufacturers protect information on price and volume, which they consider proprietary. The small number of doses sold to the CDC, then distributed to state and local health departments estimated at less than 20 percent of the total is the only information available to public health workers, Pezzino said.
“There have been discussions for years about this, especially when there has been a shortage,” he said. “There has been talk about CDC or the FDA having a more centralized role in the process.”
Snags still remain in distribution
Two years ago, only one factory was allowed to produce the vaccine after the government suspended another company”s license. Now, though there are more factories producing the vaccine, there are still disruptions in distribution, Hansen said.
The vaccine is produced in batches using 50-year-old technology that results in slower output, she said.
As a result, the majority of doses from the first batches end up at high-volume commercial clinics like those found at discount department stores and pharmacies, which typically command higher prices than a local health department or doctor”s office.
“It”s all private enterprise,” Hansen said. “The distributors can send the vaccine out however they want to.”
The supply typically remains tight for the first few months of the flu season October and November because of that snag. Reminders are issued by public health agencies beginning in October that people should be vaccinated. But by the time December rolls around and full supplies have reached the public health providers, most people think it”s too late, to get the shot, if they haven”t already, Hansen said.
Newer methods have been tested, but not approved by the FDA, that could speed production time.
“There”s just no way to have 115 million doses by Oct. 1 until that changes,” she said.
For those who haven”t received vaccines, early-to-mid December is still a good time to do so, experts say.
“It takes about two weeks for the vaccine to become effective,” Hansen said. “Now is still a good time, especially before the holiday season.”
Sarah Green is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. She can be reached at
sgreen@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 118.