NY Doctors Concerned Over Long Delay in Flu Vaccine Shipment
Doctors around New York City are concerned about a long delay in shipments of flu vaccines — right ahead of the start of a new school year.
The largest flu vaccine manufacturer in the market, Sanofi Pasteur, has told doctors that the supply of 70 million vaccines is several weeks behind schedule.
Even though the start of flu season is still just over a month away, the lack of vaccines couldn’t come at a worse time for many pediatricians, who are in the midst of the back-to-school crunch with parents flooding in to get check-ups for their children.
Sanofi Pasteur has said the delay is due in part to a month-long postponement by the World Health Organization in order to select the proper strain for the vaccine this year. The company’s vaccines make up about 40% of the U.S. supply.
"Normally in years past we would start having them by mid-August. This year Sanofi told us that there would be up to a month delay in start of shipments,” Dr. Victoria Riese told News 4. “I’m concerned that if the vaccines are a month late that some babies will not be vaccinated as early as possible.”
Doctors are worried that parents who are unable to get the flu shots now — for them or their children — will not return once the shipments are in. The CDC recommends that children over 6 months and adults get vaccinated by October and that children under the age of 8 start the process even sooner because they’ll need to receive two doses at least four weeks apart.
The New York City Health Department alerted doctors last week that “there might be delays in availability of some flu vaccine products,” citing the tight timeline. Delays in production do happen, but doctors told News 4 it’s been quite some time since there’s been legitimate concern they won’t be able to vaccinate some patients.
Dr. Blair Guidera in Murray Hill was told by Sanofi Pasteur that they would be able to deliver about a quarter of the flu shots in September, but should would have to wait until October for the bulk of the shipment.
Vaccines are also available at most drug stores, but many of them do not administer flu vaccines to children in New York.
In a statement to News 4, Sanofi Pasteur said that shipment of their products began the week of August 12th and will continue through November.
“We proactively communicated our shipping schedule to all Sanofi Pasteur customers beginning in late June to assist in the coordination of their immunization campaigns,” the statement read. “In line with the public health goal of protecting as many people as possible against influenza illness, Sanofi Pasteur ships influenza vaccine in a manner to support an equitable distribution of flu vaccine across a number of providers and channels.”
Photo Credit: NBC 4 New York
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