With all the attention given to the slow pace of distribution of the swine flu vaccine, doctors and other providers are raising concerns about a shortage of vaccine for the other flu that is expected to slam the state and country this year.
Demand appears to be up for the seasonal flu vaccine, normally sought by about 30 percent of Marylanders. But doctors, retail outlets and clinics are running low or are out of doses.
Officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention note that nearly all of the cases of flu now are of the swine flu variety, also known as H1N1, and there is still time to get a seasonal flu vaccination before an outbreak. Already, the six manufacturers of vaccine have shifted to production of H1N1 vaccine to deal with an expanding pandemic, and that has generated worry that the pipeline will run dry of seasonal flu vaccine before demand does.
"It's frustrating," said Dr. David Scharff, who runs an internal medicine practice on Conkling Street in Baltimore. "I haven't gotten any. For now, I'm telling my patients to try and get it elsewhere."
Scharff has a lot of middle-age and elderly patients - a target population for the seasonal flu vaccine but not for vaccine for the H1N1 virus, which isn't expected to hit that group hard. He ordered his 250 doses a bit late, he acknowledges, but supply hasn't been a problem since 2004, when there was a nationwide shortage.
Officials at the CDC reported Tuesday that they have heard again about shortages of seasonal flu vaccine. But they stress that more vaccine is coming. Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said 77 million doses have been distributed. About 115 million total doses are expected.
The figure is lower than the 143 million to 146 million doses of seasonal flu vaccine ordered last year, though local authorities have said many of those doses went unused.
"We expect more doses in November," Schuchat said in a conference call with reporters. "The message I have is, be patient. We're seeing the H1N1 strain but we're not seeing the seasonal flu at all. We think there is still time. We think it'll be just fine to be vaccinated later."
The flu season generally lasts through the first few months of the year, and authorities say vaccinations are frequently given through January when seasonal flu usually peaks.
