Georgia has glut of swine flu vaccine

Georgia has glut of swine flu vaccine









Georgia has a glut of more than 2 1/2 million doses of swine flu
vaccine, and some local health departments are working hard to
administer them before they expire.

Less than a third of Georgia's total allocation of 3 1/2 million doses
-- 978,092 doses -- have been administered, according to the state
Department of Community Health.

With only weeks left in a flu season that traditionally ends around
late March, state and county health officials are faced with
distributing a large amount of vaccine to a public that has largely lost
interest in swine flu. Some local health officials say some of their
vaccine will start to expire at the end of March.

"There's just not much interest in it right now," said Lisa Crossman,
director of clinical and prevention services at Cobb and Douglas Public
Health.

The Cobb/Douglas health agency has administered less than half of the
doses intended for its own clinics and mass vaccination events -- a
total of 17,000 of 37,000 doses. Some 8,300 doses there will expire at
the end of March, Crossman said.
Georgia has experienced 860 hospitalizations and 53 deaths due to swine
flu, DCH said. The virus, which has diminished in activity, has
largely displaced the common flu this season, officials said.

The Georgia problem reflects a national excess of the vaccine. The
federal government has produced about 155 million doses for public
distribution. About 50 million doses are still unused, said Tom Skinner,
spokesman for the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.

It remains unclear what will happen to leftover vaccine, but federal
health officials said some might go to waste, a potential loss of
millions of taxpayer dollars. The federal government took on the full
cost of the swine flu vaccination program.
Skinner said the federal government will make an announcement shortly
on a plan regarding the unused vaccine. For now, concern remains that
the flu season is not over and another uptick in activity could occur.

The injectable vaccine has a shelf life of a year to 18 months, he
said. The mist vaccine has a shelf life of about 18 weeks once it is
shipped to a provider.

According to the CDC, 23 percent of Americans have received swine flu
vaccinations. About 37 percent of children and teens up to the age of
18 years have been vaccinated.

Health officials are concerned that many people remain unprotected
while the virus is still circulating and people are still getting sick
and dying. They are particularly worried about children. Two swine flu
vaccination doses are required for children 9 years and younger, and
only 37 percent of children in this age group received their second
dose, according to the CDC.
The problem has been one of timing, Skinner said. Essentially, by the
time the vaccine was widely available to the public, the flu activity
-- and the public interest -- had peaked.

Swine flu, also known as H1N1, first appeared last April, but it was
December before the vaccine was widely available. In addition, concern
over the virus, which initially raised worries of a major health
disaster, diminished as it became apparent the effects for most people
mirrored the seasonal flu.

While federal health officials say that producing a new vaccine in
months was monumental, the effort had problems with delays, shortages
and the recall of over 5 million doses that lost potency.

"We wanted to make sure there was enough vaccine for everyone who might want one," Skinner said.
The federal Department of Health and Human Services spent $1.6 billion
on 229 million doses of H1N1 vaccine bulk antigen and associated
supplies, according to the CDC. About 155 million doses have been
placed into syringes, vials and sprayers. The CDC is hopeful that the
raw antigen, which lasts longer, can be used in future flu vaccines.
Some extra vaccine may be made available to the World Health
Organization for donation to countries that otherwise would not have
access to the vaccine. To move more vaccine, Cobb health officials set
up several H1N1 mass vaccination clinics in the evenings, on weekends
and at large community events such as those held at the Galleria.

Gwinnett and DeKalb health officials offered vaccinations this month at
the Vietnamese New Year's Celebration in Norcross. DeKalb has been
working hard for months to vaccinate people, at one point presenting the
benefits in a puppet show that featured a big dancing needle and
"Captain Healthy" showing kids to use hand sanitizer.

The excess stands in stark contrast to the situation in the fall, when
people stood on long lines to receive swine flu vaccine, which, because
of shortages and production delays, was being administered only to
high priority groups.


Source:-

http://www.ajc.com/health/georgia-has-glut-of-332591.html