Low stocks of flu shots mean some must wait

By Sharon Salyer

Herald Writer

Local Top Food and Haggen food stores have canceled flu shot campaigns scheduled for this weekend, the latest example of flu vaccine delays at a time when concerns about anthrax are spiking demand.

Promised deliveries that haven’t arrived mean that some area providers don’t have the vaccine in stock, while others do.

Costco reports demand so high that they have pushed back some clinics scheduled for later this month until December.

Group Health will begin its annual flu shot clinics next week at its Everett, Lynnwood and Monroe medical centers, as scheduled.

Part of the reason the health care co-operative is able to go ahead with plans is because they ordered an additional 50,000 shots as backup to their original 110,000-shot order, spokeswoman Lee Tucker Therriault said.

"We wanted to make sure we had enough vaccine for our planned flu shot clinics," she said.

Top Food &Drug canceled its scheduled flu shot clinics this weekend at its Edmonds store, as did Haggen Food &Pharmacy in Stanwood and Marysville, said spokeswoman Stacia Kirby.

These and other area stores say the best advice for anyone interested in getting a flu shot is to call ahead.

Prevention MD, a medical contractor with stores such as Top Food, Haggen and Safeway in four Northwest states, expects to administer 30,000 to 50,000 shots this year. So far, only 6 to 7 percent of the order has arrived, said Dave Wood, medical director.

"We’re taking it week by week," Wood said. "We have no idea when we’ll get our full supply."

The Everett Clinic says its shipments are arriving on time and immunizations are going ahead as scheduled.

Costco is going ahead with some scheduled flu shot clinics at its Silver Lake and Lynnwood stores in the next two weeks. But others scheduled for later in the month are being rescheduled for December because demand is about double what was expected, said Charles Burnett, senior vice president for pharmacy.

The company has ordered 750,000 doses for its stores in 27 states, he said. Vaccine supplies, which were expected to last through the end of the month, are now projected to be depleted by mid-November, he said.

About 200 to 300 doses are brought into each store for one-day sessions. "They go through that pretty quickly," he said, sometimes running out while people are still in line.

At the Snohomish Health District, meanwhile, promised shipments haven’t arrived. While seniors and others with serious health problems can get the shot, healthy adults will have to wait, likely until mid-November.

Only about a third of its 6,500-shot order has arrived. "We do not have a whole lot left to continue giving to people until we get some more orders in," said Kelly Sylliaasen, vaccine coordinator.

Despite slim stocks, the health district shared 20 doses earlier this week with Everett’s naval station, which temporarily ran short. "You would think the military would get it before other people would," Sylliaasen said.

Dr. M. Ward Hinds, who heads the countywide public health agency, said it is difficult to try to sell the public on the idea that because of short supplies healthy adults should wait to get the shot when it’s available at area stores.

"I would like to encourage those commercial organizations to limit their use of flu vaccine to the high-risk population for at least the next couple of weeks," he said, so there’s adequate supply for those 65 and older and others who may become gravely ill if they catch the flu.

But Woods, whose company contracts with stores throughout the Northwest, said the real issue is adequate vaccine production.

"We shouldn’t have to be sitting here arguing over who gets the serum and who doesn’t," he said. "Anytime you do that, it’s impossible to come up with an equitable system."

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

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

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