Larger vaccine supply expected

A fourth supplier was recently approved.
SCRIPPS HOWARD
It appears the nation will have a bigger supply of flu vaccine this fall, but health officials still want high-risk people to be at the head of the line for the vaccine until late October.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as many as 97 million doses of flu vaccine should be available for this season, so long as no production glitches occur.
That's nearly equal to the 100 million shots the government had expected to have on hand for the 2004-05 season, before Chiron Corp. was forced to shut down its plant in England last year due to contamination concerns and cut stocks by nearly half.
With those problems resolved, Chiron officials expect to ship up to 26 million doses to the United States this winter. Another supplier, GlaxoSmithKline, was also recently approved, giving the country four suppliers and a greater chance that stocks won't be disrupted.
Even so, there's some uncertainty about how the season will go.
"Just as we can never predict what the upcoming flu season will look like, we're never 100 percent certain how many doses we will have or the demand for the vaccine," said the CDC director, Dr. Julie Gerberding.
Last year, the flu season was relatively mild and late in arriving. Health officials eventually managed to distribute about 61 million doses, with several million that were never used.
Greater risk
In addition to the very young, the old and those with chronic medical conditions, public health officials are pressing to ensure that the vaccine is available to evacuees from Hurricane Katrina who are still living in group shelters.
Officials are also making a big push to vaccinate nursing-home residents and health-care workers.
Dr. Mark McClellan, head of the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said a new rule requires nursing homes that receive federal funds to offer vaccines against the flu and bacterial pneumonia to all residents, unless they have a medical condition that precludes getting the vaccine.