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Tuesday, October 24, 2000

At-risk patients not getting first shots
Manufacturers admit shipping flu vaccines to big companies ahead of doctors
By Lauran Neergaard
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Dr. Raymond Scalettar is angry: He has to send elderly lung-disease patients to nearby supermarkets for a flu shot. Why? Some huge grocery chains received thousands of vaccine doses before manufacturers shipped them to many private doctors whose patients are so frail that influenza could kill them.
   The sick standing in store lines isn't doctors' only frustration. Manufacturers acknowledge shipping shots to large corporations for employee-vaccination programs ahead of many doctors - even though this year's vaccine delay means high-risk Americans, not healthy young workers, are supposed to be first in line.
   So federal health officials are urging healthy people to wait until late November for vaccination - letting the elderly, pregnant women and people with chronic illnesses such as asthma, heart disease or weak immune systems get the first shots now being shipped.
   Vaccine shipment was delayed because of some now-solved manufacturing problems. Contrary to earlier fears, and some continuing erroneous media reports, the CDC insists there's no impending shortage. Some 75 million flu shots ultimately will be distributed.
   But typically, doctors finish vaccinating most high-risk patients, and lots of healthy people, by late October.
   This year, vaccine shipments only recently began and just two-thirds of doses will be sent out before December.
   So the CDC, receiving physician complaints like Scalettar's, is asking corporations to offer the first shots only to employees - and, this year, to their family members - who are high-risk, and vaccinate healthy workers later.
   Companies with early vaccine shipments could lend them to needier nursing homes or high-risk clinics, which would repay the loan when their own shots arrive, CDC suggests.

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