U.S. faces significant flu vaccine shortfall -AND- Physicians: prioritize patients for flu vaccine

CAL/AAEM News Service calaaem_news at yahoo.com
Tue Oct 12 21:34:12 PDT 2004


U.S. faces significant flu vaccine shortfall

October 5, 2004


Hospitals and other health care providers will have to ration their flu
vaccine supply following today’s announcement that British health authorities
have suspended the manufacturing license of the California-based biotech
company responsible for delivering half of this year's U.S. flu vaccine supply,
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson said today. In light of expected flu vaccine
scarcity, HHS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is asking that only
the following patient populations receive the flu shot: health care workers,
children aged 6-23 months; persons aged 65 and older; pregnant women; those
with serious underlying health conditions, such as heart failure, AIDS and
kidney failure; residents and workers of nursing homes and long-term care
facilities; people between the ages of six months and 18 years of age on
aspirin therapy; and at-home caregivers of young children. Chiron Corp’s
vaccine manufacturing facility in Liverpool, England ran afoul of British
manufacturing practice regulations, prompting the three-month suspension. HHS
expects to have only 54 million doses of influenza vaccine on tap this flu
season; it had originally planned for a 100-million dose supply.


Source: AHA News (www.ahanews.com) 

-------------------------------------------------------------

Physicians: prioritize patients for flu vaccine

October 6, 2004


In light of the unexpected announcement that the nation's influenza vaccine
supply may be limited due to the apparent loss of the doses from Chiron
Corporation, the AMA urges health care professionals to follow the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) guidelines for vaccinating high-risk
patients on a priority basis.

Patients at highest priority for flu vaccination include:

Those 65 years and older
All children 6 to 23 months old
Those living in nursing homes or other long-term care facilities
Adults and children 2 years and older with chronic heart or lung conditions
Adults and children 2 years and older who needed regular medical care during
the previous year because of a metabolic disease, chronic kidney disease or
weakened immune system
Children on long-term aspirin therapy
Women who will be pregnant during the influenza season
Health care workers with direct patient contact
Those in direct contact with children less than six months old.
"We are calling on healthy individuals who are not at high risk for flu
complications to do the right thing and defer vaccination, so those who are
most at risk can get flu shots," said AMA Trustee Ronald M. Davis, MD.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) anticipates having
approximately 54 million doses of vaccine from Aventis Pasteur and another 1-2
million doses of FluMist nasal spray from Medimmune Inc. However, the HHS is
exploring other options, such as attaining more vaccination from Aventis, to
help address the demand for the vaccination, which was at about 87 million
doses last flu season.

Stay tuned to the CDC Web site to read recommendations its Advisory Committee
on Immunization Practices is constructing to help health care professionals
prioritize patients in need of the vaccine.


Source: AMA eVoice (http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/1827.html)


=====
Cyrus Shahpar & Brian Potts 
Managing Editors, CAL/AAEM News Service 
UC-Irvine



		
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