2008 Woodie Awards
Flu shot shortage makes prevention key
Kerry Sullivan
Issue date: 12/4/04 Section: News Stories
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Imagine this scenario: the semester is winding down, finals are coming up, and you can't move. Your muscles are achy and you feel unusually tired. Your roommates are worried about you - they take your temperature and find that you have a 102-degree fever that has lasted for the past three days. As they offer you Gatorade and bring you dry toast, you brush off their concerns, assuring them that it's just the common cold and you'll be fine in a few more days.
But you aren't fine. You develop a dry cough that keeps you up all night and won't seem to break. You have trouble breathing through your stuffy nose. Your throat becomes so sore that it hurts to take in liquids. You seem to be getting worse rather than getting better. You begin to suspect that you might have the flu.
The viral respiratory infection of influenza, more commonly called "the flu," affects 5% to 20% of U.S. residents each year. Unlike other viral respiratory illnesses, such as the common cold, the flu can cause serious life-threatening complications in many people. While the relatively healthy college population rarely develops complications dangerous enough to warrant hospitalization, more than 200,000 American are hospitalized for flu-related complications each year, and about 36,000 die on average from these complications.
The influenza vaccine, or flu shot, can significantly lower the number of cases of the flu during the flu season each year, which peaks anywhere from late December through March. However, this year there was a severe shortage of vaccinations for distribution in the U.S. because of a manufacturing issue. Although one half of the U.S.'s supply of flu shots is produced domestically, the other half is manufactured in Great Britain.
On October 5th, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) was notified by the British Chiron Corporation that none of its influenza vaccine would be available for distribution in the United States for the 2004-05 flu season. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the United Kingdom had suspended the company's production of flu shots at its Liverpool factory for three months, preventing any release of the vaccine for this influenza season. Consequently, the U.S. lost half of its expected supply, and only those deemed to be at "high risk" for complications by the Department of Public Health (DPH) have been able to receive the vaccine.
But you aren't fine. You develop a dry cough that keeps you up all night and won't seem to break. You have trouble breathing through your stuffy nose. Your throat becomes so sore that it hurts to take in liquids. You seem to be getting worse rather than getting better. You begin to suspect that you might have the flu.
The viral respiratory infection of influenza, more commonly called "the flu," affects 5% to 20% of U.S. residents each year. Unlike other viral respiratory illnesses, such as the common cold, the flu can cause serious life-threatening complications in many people. While the relatively healthy college population rarely develops complications dangerous enough to warrant hospitalization, more than 200,000 American are hospitalized for flu-related complications each year, and about 36,000 die on average from these complications.
The influenza vaccine, or flu shot, can significantly lower the number of cases of the flu during the flu season each year, which peaks anywhere from late December through March. However, this year there was a severe shortage of vaccinations for distribution in the U.S. because of a manufacturing issue. Although one half of the U.S.'s supply of flu shots is produced domestically, the other half is manufactured in Great Britain.
On October 5th, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) was notified by the British Chiron Corporation that none of its influenza vaccine would be available for distribution in the United States for the 2004-05 flu season. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the United Kingdom had suspended the company's production of flu shots at its Liverpool factory for three months, preventing any release of the vaccine for this influenza season. Consequently, the U.S. lost half of its expected supply, and only those deemed to be at "high risk" for complications by the Department of Public Health (DPH) have been able to receive the vaccine.