From Deseret News archives:
Many vaccines in short supply
Regulations and fewer producers get the blame
The influenza-vaccine shortage, reported Friday by the only two suppliers of flu shots, is more than a one-time mismatch of supply and demand. This is the eighth major shortage of preventive vaccines in the United States since the beginning of 2000.
Shortages of vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, chickenpox and measles have occurred since then. Flu vaccines have been in short supply for three of the past four years. Now, doctors and clinics around the country say they are running low on supply as Americans rush to get some protection from the most severe outbreak in years, one that already has killed several youngsters in Colorado and elsewhere.
Vaccine shortages "aren't a one-time act of nature," says Frank Sloan, an economist at Duke University, who served as chairman of an Institute of Medicine study that explored vaccine issues in a report issued last August.
Many vaccines, such as those for tetanus and chickenpox, have only a single supplier in the U.S. market. The flu vaccine has only two: Aventis Pasteur, a unit of the large French drug company Aventis SA, and Chiron Corp. A newcomer, MedImmune Inc., has recently launched a nasal spray vaccine, FluMist. Merck & Co. and Pfizer Inc. are among the drug makers that no longer make flu vaccines.
Stockpiling of various vaccines is one solution to reducing the shortages, at least for some vaccines. The institute's report noted that "of the 10 vaccines that the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] has targeted for stockpiling, only three were stockpiled in 2002." Among those were vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella, as well as a small stockpile of polio vaccine.
The report noted that stockpiling is expensive and that the CDC has been conservative about developing stockpiles to minimize the financial risk. However, the flu vaccine can't be stockpiled every season, so manufacturers have to start every year from scratch, public-health officials say.
Comments
- Tuesday on TV 12:13 a.m.
- 'Dancing' will fill out finale 12:13 a.m.
- I'll take doc's advice on mammogram 12:12 a.m.
- Editorial: Winning fans' hearts 12:11 a.m.
- Afterthoughts 12:11 a.m.
- Letters: Barzee case like Jeffs' 12:11 a.m.
- Letters: Trump card for believers 12:11 a.m.
- Letters: Can't erase genetics 12:11 a.m.
- Letters: Rushing to judge Palin 12:11 a.m.
- Letters: MLS not BCS 12:11 a.m.
- Real Champions
- Bronco, Kyle rubber match
- Protests against Phoenix LDS temple
- BYU's Lamb, Jorgensen reprimanded
- Plenty on line for rivalry game
- Time for big matchups in WAC, MWC
- RSL wins MLS Cup on penalty kicks
- BCS at-large bids up for grabs
- Hall, Johnson matchup key
- Fans greet returning Real Salt Lake
- Glenn Beck to enter politics?
213 - RSL wins MLS Cup on penalty kicks
196 - Palin plans tour stop in Utah
178 - Palin's book shows she's unqualified
133 - BYU records with win
132 - Bronco, Kyle rubber match
131 - Protests against Phoenix LDS temple
110 - Officer cleared in Cardall Taser case
103 - BYU cuts Women's Research Inst.
103 - Jazz finally win in San Antonio
99
While doing a story on sugar a month ago, I learned a bit about syrups...
Fesenko returning to the bench? Yeah, probably. But I sure hope that he'll...
Real did it. They shocked the world. Just like the Utes last year in the...
I lived in Phx area for years, served on a City board for 7 years. My board...
Joseph Smith charged money for his money-digging ventures, and he took a...
Jared Quayle is a stud. He plays like a beast every time he touches the...
No Phx is not a majority LDS city Mesa is. As far as Tom's comment about...
Lest my Utah friends think I was just going to bang on my own, I think UteFan...
You can read the official declaration online via a photo of the original....
"McFeatters states that what Palin is doing, and doing brilliantly, is being...
don't mean to pick on you but fans from both sides make it easy to despise...




You can be the first to comment on this story.