Newswire/ -- Community, Migrant and Homeless Health Centers around the country are reporting inadequate supplies of vaccine as the influenza immunization season gets underway.
Health centers in North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, New Mexico, Idaho, Oregon, West Virginia, South Dakota, and California say they have received only a fraction of their pre-ordered flu shots and few answers about why the problem is occurring.
"Our patients are calling and asking for the flu shot on a daily basis because preventive medicine is what we practice and preach here, but now we don't have any shots to give them," said Debra Shelor, Executive Director of Tri-Area Health Clinic near Roanoke, Virginia, a health center that serves 5,000 patients a year, 25 percent of whom are uninsured and 30 percent rely on Medicaid.
Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) projects that the supply of vaccine for this flu season is sufficient at more than 80 million doses, there have been distribution delays.
Published reports, for instance, indicate that one of the manufactures, Chiron, experienced delays in getting their first vaccine doses out and approved for distribution.
Nevertheless, some health centers remain concerned that the current delays demonstrate the U.S. is inadequately prepared for a flu pandemic.
"It is indeed ironic that delays with vaccine supplies to providers come as our nation's leaders craft a federal response strategy for responding to a flu pandemic or an avian flu strike," said Tom Van Coverden, President and CEO at NACHC.
"We cannot not afford this kind of scenario should an actual public health disaster strike.
"The situation that I have here in Cleveland is that my high risk patients and my staff (who could become vectors spreading influenza should they become ill this winter) are unimmunized," said Ann Reichsman, MD, Medical Director of Neighborhood Family Practice in Cleveland, Ohio.
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