Another year, another shortage of flu vaccines

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, October 2, 2001

By Sharon Salyer

Herald Writer

For the second consecutive year, national vaccine distribution problems are causing major delays for area residents who want flu shots.

While seniors and others with health problems that make them vulnerable to the flu probably will be able to get their shots sometime this month, healthy adults likely will have to wait until November or December.

Two local health care organizations, Group Health Cooperative and Stevens Hospital in Edmonds, have yet to receive any vaccine and are holding off on scheduling flu shot clinics until they do.

A major health fair at Monroe’s Valley General Hospital, where the shot is available, has been rescheduled for early December, just as it was last year.

Group Health is expecting to have only 10 percent of the 105,000 doses it ordered by month’s end, spokeswoman Terri Campbell said.

Group Health has tentatively scheduled special sessions for healthy adults to shots beginning in November, Campbell said.

Flu shots typically were available beginning in early October until last year, when manufacturing problems caused significant delays in vaccine deliveries, bringing shortages and forcing flu shot clinics to be canceled and rescheduled across the nation.

Federal health officials recommend flu shots for anyone age 50 and older. The shot is also suggested for adults who wish to avoid the illness or who can’t miss work.

The shots provide peak protection for about three months, which should be enough to help ward off the disease through Washington’s traditional flu season of December through February or March, health officials note.

The Snohomish Health District has made tentative plans to begin immunizing seniors and others at high risk for flu-related health problems on Oct. 15, said Kelly Sylliaasen, vaccine coordinator.

With only a portion of the 6,500 doses ordered by the countywide public health agency delivered, anyone who is not high risk should count on waiting until sometime in November to get a shot, she said.

Although the flu, with its fever, headaches, muscle aches, weakness, sore throat and cough, is a common winter ailment, for those who are elderly or who have major health problems such as heart disease, it is potentially deadly. In 1999, 94 Snohomish County residents died of flu and its complications.

The Everett Clinic has received 4,250 of the 17,000 flu vaccine doses it ordered, reserving its initial supply for those who need it most. When the next round of vaccine arrives, the organization will begin scheduling shots for others, said Dana Cooper, the clinic’s materials manager.

Medalia Medical Group expects the shots to be generally available to healthy patients in mid-November, said Dr. Earl Beegle, chief medical officer.

Stevens Hospital has yet to receive any of the 6,200 doses it ordered. Seniors and those at risk for flu complications will likely be able to get the shots sometime this month. Others will have to wait until November or December, said Bob Knowles, health promotions director.

You can call Herald Writer Sharon Salyer at 425-339-3486

or send e-mail to salyer@heraldnet.com.