Barely a single drop of seasonal flu vaccine can be found in the Wood River Valley.
A fortunate few may find a doctor holding a stray dose or two, but don't count on it. The South Central Public Health District, Albertsons, all St. Luke's clinics in the area and most private clinics have tapped every drop.
And more supplies could take a month or longer to arrive as manufacturers have switched to producing the vaccine for H1N1—commonly known as swine flu. Manufacturers say they won't be focusing on seasonal flu production until H1N1 quotas are met, meaning people may have to wait until the end of November, depending on the supplier.
Those desperate enough for a shot-full are driving an hour and a half south to Twin Falls where dwindling supplies haven't yet dried up, but will soon.
Costco will hold a seasonal flu clinic today from 3-7 p.m., administering about 450 doses. Pharmacy Manager Barbara Fuchs said this wasn't supposed to be Costco's final clinic, but the pharmacy has burned through its shipment faster than expected. She said the store expects to run dry before the day's end and has cancelled its Nov. 7 clinic. People aren't just travelling from the Wood River Valley to snag a shot, Fuchs said.
"We had someone call us today from Pocatello (113 miles away)," she said. "The Costco there must have run out."
Fuchs said it's been about six years since a shortage has forced the store to cancel a clinic. Usually, it has to throw away a few doses.
Seasonal flu shortages aren't hitting just the Wood River Valley, Pocatello or even Idaho, but all of America, according to Tom Shanahan, public information manager for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. He said increased and early demand has exhausted normal vaccine supplies.
Providers nationwide are asking for more orders of the seasonal flu vaccine, but it's too late.
Shanahan said most of the nation's vaccine manufacturers have shipped their original orders out and "shut down seasonal flu (vaccine) manufacturing until the distribution pipeline for H1N1 is really flowing."
America's largest provider of seasonal flu vaccine is a company from Lyon, France, called Sanofi Pasteur. It's one of five U.S. licensed manufacturers and makes about 45 percent of America's seasonal flu vaccines.
The company supplies seasonal flu vaccines to Idaho's South Central Public Health District, according to Cheryle Becker, Family and Children's Health administrator.
"The health district virtually has no seasonal flu vaccines left," she said, adding that it ran out two weeks ago after receiving only a small portion of its expected delivery.
The delay could last until the end of October or into November, she said Sanofi informed her. Donna Cary, director of public relations for Sanofi Pasteur, said supplies have been delayed nationwide for the company.
This year's complication of having to provide two flu vaccines—seasonal and H1N1—has stalled delivery of the less urgent seasonal flu vaccine. Instead of just providing 50.5 million doses of seasonal, the company also needs to manufacture 75.3 million doses of H1N1. On top of that, Sanofi is producing 1.5 million more doses of seasonal compared to last year, Cary said.
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National pharmacy chain CVS announced that its seasonal flu-shot clinics would end Oct. 22 instead of as planned at the end of November due to manufacturer delays and far more demand than last year.
Rite Aid Corp. also announced delayed orders that have forced the company to cancel seasonal flu-shot clinics in some of its West Coast stores through mid-December.
Even though Sanofi Pasteur fell behind on many of its orders, a lot of local providers received their requested vaccine amounts. It just wasn't enough. But that's not the fault of health care providers, said Jo Dee Alverson, director of infection prevention at St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center south of Ketchum. Orders have to be placed in March.
"How you plan that early is really willy-nilly," she said.
Last year, the hospital had to throw away 200 of its 2,200 seasonal-flu doses. Because of last year's surplus, St. Luke's ordered the same number in March for this year, about 2,200. But come delivery time, about 700 doses never arrived because of failure to pass inspection at the manufacturing plant.
Alverson said the problem was only compounded by this fall's raging demand in September, starting vaccination season a month earlier than usual.
"We're giving flu shots to people who'd never gotten one in their whole lives," she said.
Tanya Keim, community relations director for St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center, attributes the unusual demand to more media coverage this year.
To meet the increased demand, more than 100 million doses were created nationwide this year. That's about 19 million more than last year's 81 million doses. This year's production also towers over the all-time high of 2003 by 17 million.
Keim said future shipments for St. Luke's or any of its local clinics aren't expected in the near future. And St. Luke's can't ask for more because drug companies are emphasizing H1N1 production.
It's also affecting private practices, like that of Dr. Nancy Parry in Ketchum. Office Manager Kathy Nice said that family practice went through its ordered 60 doses in less than a month, much like St. Luke's.
"That usually lasts until December," she said. "But people started coming so early."
Like St. Luke's, Parry's office had doses left over last year and didn't increase its order this year.
Some providers, like Family Medicine & Wellness in Ketchum, haven't even seen a single vial. Receptionist Kerry Lugo said the private practice made an order earlier this year but nothing has come yet.
"Maybe we weren't high enough on the totem pole," she said.
Tom Shanahan, from the Department of Health and Welfare, said that even with the delay possibly lasting through November, most providers and vaccine manufacturers aren't too worried. Seasonal flu cases usually don't peak until February.
"The dominant strain right now is H1N1," he said.
Come next year, coordinating supplies of H1N1 and seasonal vaccine shouldn't be an issue. Just one vaccine will be created to counter both viruses, said Alverson at St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center.
Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com
