Scarcity of flu vaccine causes panic

Monday, Oct. 18, 2004 | 10:55 a.m.

Senior citizens, some in wheelchairs, some pulling oxygen tanks, stood in line for hours outside Smith's Food and Drug stores over the weekend, hoping to get one of the few flu shots available in the Las Vegas Valley after a nationwide flu shot shortage forced the cancellation of most other planned clinics.

A 66-year-old woman fainted and hit her head as she stood in line Friday with hundreds of other seniors outside a Henderson Smith's. The final clinic, operated by Maxim Healthcare Services, was Saturday.

"She's OK, she just got a little too warm," Harold Baker, 69, said of his wife, Darlene Baker, as Henderson Fire and Rescue paramedics took her into the ambulance about 2:30 p.m. The couple had been standing in the sun for about an hour-and-a-half, Harold Baker said, waiting for the 4 p.m. clinic to open.

Following the recommendations of the national Centers for Disease Control, the health district is working with local doctors to get the vaccine to those who need it most, particularly those with weakened immune systems or those with HIV/AIDS, major organ transplant recipients, patients on renal dialysis, cancer patients and those with chronic respiratory illnesses, spokeswoman Jennifer Sizemore said.

But most of the seniors in line for shots on Friday said their doctors didn't have any vaccine.

"We've been trying all over to get them," Baker said, echoing the sentiments of dozens of others waiting for the shots.

Seniors desperate to receive the flu shots began lining up at the Smith's near Green Valley Parkway and Interstate 215 as early as 9 a.m. Friday, even though the clinic didn't open until 4 p.m. On Saturday people said they got in line at 1 a.m. for a 10 a.m. clinic.

"It's terrible, terrible. We have to be out here all day long," said 84-year-old Rachel Hammons, the first to arrive Friday after having "lost out" at a clinic the day before. "They should do something about this."

Shots were available only to those who fell into one of the high-risk categories, Maxim branch manager Bill Einecker said. Only the first 300 people were served at each of the nine clinics Maxim offered, the last of which was Saturday.

Because of the heat, which hit a high of 88 degrees Friday afternoon, Henderson Fire and Rescue paramedics moved the clinic to the east side of the building, where there was more shade. Nurses administered the flu shots in the back alley.

But the long trek down the length of the shopping center and around the building caused other seniors to fall ill.

"Many of the elderly people who are here are really ill, and they are being treated like cattle," Eileen Baron, 68, said as she was waiting to get her husband the shot because of his asthma.

Almost all of the 300-plus people lined up for the clinic were over 65, and several dozen were in wheelchairs, using walkers or toting oxygen tanks.

Several had to stop and rest during the journey, and one 84-year-old woman fell out of her wheelchair on a dip of the road, hitting her back and head.

"It's a horrible system, a horrible system," the woman's caretaker said, asking that she not be identified. "We appreciate the service, but they have to think of the population they are serving and make some accommodations."

Another man, 78-year-old Patrick Lades, was carrying two oxygen tanks and couldn't walk even past the Smith's storefront, much less down the length of the shopping center and back. He ended up borrowing one of the store's motorized shopping scooters to make it around the building.

"I couldn't walk," Lades said. "It was so far."

Lades arrived just after 9 a.m. and was sixth in line. He said he had already been to two of the other clinics Maxim had offered in the week and was turned away both times.

Most people in line didn't arrive until after 1 p.m., and only a few people were turned away by the time the clinic started. Maxim began handing out tickets at 3 p.m. and told everyone in line they could come back between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. but no one wanted to risk getting out of line, Einecker said.

Einecker said the intense media coverage of the vaccine shortage had scared many seniors into thinking that the Maxim clinics were the only way to get the shots. His company will be working with the health district to meet the needs of about 2,000 more seniors as they are placed on a priority list, Einecker said.

All of the previous clinics had been held in the Smith's stores, Einecker said. Henderson fire officials prevented the crowd from waiting in the store because they would have been above the occupancy limit, a Henderson dispatch official said.

Einecker called in additional nurses to administer the shots and started the clinic a little bit early, but he told those near the end of the line they were still looking at a two-hour wait.

"After everything that happened we want to make sure we accommodate people as quickly as possible," Einecker said. "This was a unique situation this time and hopefully it will not happen again."

The Smith's manager on duty, who declined to comment, also donated water and cookies to the waiting seniors and allowed them to cut through the store's back stock room after receiving their shots. Before moving to the back of the store, seniors had also borrowed patio chairs on sale to take a seat.

In Northern California a 79-year-old woman collapsed and died after hitting her head after waiting in the sun for five hours outside a Safeway supermarket for a flu vaccine, and two other women, ages 78 and 83, also collapsed outside of a Costco waiting for a clinic there.

The nationwide shortage was sparked by the closure of production facilities of Chiron, one of two main providers of the flu vaccine. That forced the Clark County Health District to limit the 15,000 dosages in its control to those who fall in the highest-risk categories, Sizemore said.

Those who fall into one of the higher risk categories should contact their personal physicians to be placed on a waiting list for the vaccine, Sizemore said. The health district is currently surveying all local health providers to assess which patients most need the vaccine before they decide how to distribute it, Sizemore said.

There is also a slight chance the health district may get more dosages in four to six weeks, Sizemore said, but she did not know how many that would be.

Several other major health care providers, such as Sierra Health Services and Southwest Medical Associates, also canceled their regular flu clinics, officials said. Maxim was the only company the health district knew to be distributing the shots to the general public, Sizemore said.

Sizemore said the health district should be able to meet the needs of those most at-risk only if healthy individuals skip the flu shot this year and focus on flu prevention, such as covering their mouths when they cough or sneeze, regularly washing their hands and staying home if they do fall ill.

Healthy individuals ages 5 to 49 may also opt for the FluMist, a nasal mist vaccine that uses a live, weakened form of the virus, Sizemore said. Some people become ill from the vaccine and it is not recommended for individuals or health care workers who regularly come in contact with those in the high-risk categories, particularly for those with weakened immune systems.

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