Meanwhile, the Associated Press shared Friday that the first public H1N1 vaccination clinic in Moorhead, Minn., on Thursday only used 750 of the available 1,500 doses. The AP also reported Friday that some people across the country are getting the H1N1 vaccine, even though they aren’t in the priority groups that have been designated for the clinics. So what exactly is going on?
Health officials involved with the Moorhead clinic expressed surprise at the low turnout, the AP reported. Health officials at other clinics around the country aren’t acting as “police” in allocating the vaccine, the AP reported, instead opting for the “honor system.”
The Moorhead clinic is an aberration this flu season as most Americans are concerned about not being able to get the H1N1 vaccine, given the serious complications that may result from contracting the virus.
The rough, unedited transcript of Thursday’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention press briefing involved comments from national Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases director Anne Schuchat. The director was asked about what communication there is between the CDC and the vaccine manufacturers. “There’s very active communication with the manufacturers. Of course, we have been talking about this delay in production,” Schuchat is quoted as saying in the transcript.
She states the virus is not cooperating in the eggs that are used to produce the vaccine.
North Dakota Department of Health Immunization Program manager Molly Sander said Thursday one of the vaccine manufacturers also hasn’t been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to distribute H1N1 vaccine in the United States. Arlene Porcell-Pharr of CDC Media Relations confirmed Thursday that vaccine manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline has yet to receive FDA approval. This leaves four manufacturers of the vaccine to serve the U.S. ” Sanofi Pasteur, Novartis, MedImmune and CSL.
Sander said her understanding is there also are some problems associated with the fill and finish aspect of vaccine production that have contributed to the availability delays.
Sander said North Dakota originally was to receive 109,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine by Oct. 30. The latest number is now 54,485 doses, or about half of what was originally expected.
It’s a long process to make influenza vaccine every year, Sander said. The World Health Organization looks at what is circulating in the Southern Hemisphere to determine what strains to put into the influenza vaccine. Sander said it then takes about nine months to make the influenza vaccine that is grown in eggs.
“They did get it out in a fairly reasonable time period. It’s just that we need more right now. It would have been better to have mass quantities out at the beginning,” Sander said.
She does expect increased demand for the H1N1 vaccine. Historical vaccination percentages may help to explain, however, why availability isn’t meeting demand.
In 2007, only 24.6 percent of children ages 6-23 months got vaccinated for the seasonal flu from September through December. Children ages 2-18 are vaccinated for the seasonal flu at rates that are even less than children ages 6-23 months, Sander said.
“On average, less than 40 percent of health care workers get vaccinated every year,” she added.
The only segment of the population that is serious about vaccinations is people 65 and older, where Sander said over 70 percent get seasonal flu shots each year.
“That is why it is so hard to say, because there is so much more attention to the flu this year,” Sander said in referencing how many doses of the H1N1 vaccine the state is going to need.
The vaccine also is distributed based upon population. So smaller states and smaller communities are getting proportionally fewer doses of vaccine until overall manufacturing improves.
This hopefully helps to explain what is going on regarding H1N1 vaccine distribution. As we’ve stated earlier, however, patience continues to be of the utmost importance in tempering the frustration that is sure to exist in the overwhelming majority of communities in this country that indeed do want to get vaccinated.
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