Saying that health-care providers in eight counties have contacted his office worried that they don’t have flu vaccine, U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar has asked the state health department to investigate vaccine distribution problems.
“Clinics, nursing homes, county health departments, hospitals and physicians … are reporting that they have not received, or have received only a fraction of, their influenza orders,” Salazar wrote in a letter to Douglas H. Benevento, executive director of the state health department.
The health department responded with a statement that it has no authority over distribution of vaccine “because distribution is handled by private companies on a national basis.”
The department predicted that there will be enough vaccine for everyone seeking a shot in Colorado but that some people may have to wait until late November or early December to be vaccinated. A spokeswoman said the department had “provided this information on the process for distributing flu vaccine” to Salazar.
Flu-shot clinics at Walgreens drugstores and Albertsons supermarkets have been canceled in Colorado and elsewhere around the country because they have not received vaccine they ordered from a major manufacturer.
Despite the shortages in some areas, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects 70 to 80 million doses of flu vaccine to be available nationwide this year, an increase of at least 20 million over last year.
The trouble is, much of that vaccine, especially that made by Chiron Corp., hasn’t reached distributors and clinics yet.
In the meantime, everyone from proprietors of local clinics to CDC officials reports that demand is way up, in part because of last year’s well-publicized vaccine shortages, combined with fears of deadly avian flu.
“We thought we had enough,” said Sunny Hynds, who operates the Lakewood-based vaccine provider Flu-Central, but demand surpassed expectations.
The number of people seeking vaccination is “up everywhere,” Hynds said. “I would guess by about 15 to 20 percent. I think the bird flu is part of it.”
Hynds said she has been told by representatives of Chiron that the company will have shipped its vaccine by December. “The Chiron is trickling in little by little,” she said.
The flu virus, however, isn’t waiting. Three cases have been reported in Colorado already, according to the state health department. In one of those, a Greeley man had to be hospitalized for treatment.
Demand for vaccine is always unpredictable. After shortages and lines for shots last fall, many suppliers wound up throwing away unused doses at the flu season’s end.
Flu vaccine cannot be saved from one year to the next because each year’s vaccine is different, concocted based on the virus strains believed to be circulating.
And while fear of avian flu may be driving much of the demand for vaccine, this year’s vaccine does not protect against that strain of flu virus.
Last year’s vaccine shortages resulted because authorities in the United Kingdom shut down Chiron’s British vaccine plant.
The plant is up and running again, but Chiron is battling production delays.
Staff writer Karen Augé can be reached at 303-820-1733 or kauge@denverpost.com.
