Flu vaccine shortage averted but doses will be delayed

Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2000 | 10:35 a.m.

There may be no flu shot shortage this year after all, but there still will be a delay in the vaccines arriving in Las Vegas, officials said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta was able to order up to 9 million more doses nationwide, meaning Southern Nevada health officials eventually should get the 40,000-plus doses it is seeking to inoculate people this year, Clark County Health District spokeswoman Jennifer Sizemore said today.

"Even though the overall picture has changed, we still expect a delay and won't start giving shots until Nov. 6 -- and initially only to those who are at risk," Sizemore said. That includes people over 65 or those with chronic medical conditions who have doctor prescriptions, among them, diabetics.

"We are expecting 20,000 doses to arrive later this month," she said.

The Health District provides flu shots at no charge to people who have health insurance or Medicare that pays for the cost of the vaccine. Those who do not have insurance are charged $10, Sizemore said.

Last year 40,000 doses were given by the local health district. People also can receive flu shots from their doctors or at health fairs, if they have the vaccine.

Also, the shots are of the "kill" vaccine variety, not the old "live" variety. The old shots gave recipients a mild case of the flu to build the body's immunity; the new vaccine does not and should have little side effects.

The drawback, Sizemore said, is with the new shot, "It takes two weeks to develop an immunity after getting the shot so you are still susceptible to getting the flu during that period.

"And, you can still get the flu after getting the shot because it is not 100 percent (effective). But you don't get the flu from the shot."

Word of a potential shortage came earlier this month after two of the four companies approved by the Food and Drug Administration to produce the flu vaccine had compliance problems and the other two companies had difficulties growing one of the three influenza strains that goes into the vaccine.

Late last week word came from the CDC that the additional doses have been contracted for, which would stave off a potential shortage that threatened to fill hospital beds nationwide this winter.

The CDC says 20,000 people die annually from flu-related complications, and that during an epidemic year fatalities can climb 150 percent above that figure.