Today we received more doses of the H1N1 vaccine. We are told that we are going to get shipments every week for the next two months. You may now call the office and make an appointment to get the vaccine for your children.
We also have some explanation as to why we are not getting as many doses of the vaccine as was anticipated. The government had purchased a total of 250 million doses, but only 22 million doses were available by mid October. CDC spokeswoman Amanda Aldridge said “a combination of things that didn’t go as anticipated” have caused a delay in production. Manufactures encountered a lower-than-normal yield in the initial H1N1 production seed strain provided by the World Health Organization. In order to make the vaccine, the laboratory must grow a sample of the virus and the process showed to be slower than anticipated. At the same time manufactures have been trying to balance production of the H1N1 vaccine with that of seasonal flu vaccine, creating delays in both lines. Production has now been accelerated and all manufacturers expect an increase in shipment over the next few months.
As frustrating as it is for patients and doctors, we are all learning from this process as we try to distribute the vaccine to those at higher risk first.
We will continue to have an open communication with our patients, keeping you up to date as we get new information.
Here are some useful Web sites for up-to-the-minute news and information about H1N1:
- The AMA’s 2009 H1N1Information Site: www.amah1n1info.org/
- Prevent Influenza Now! sponsored by the National Vaccine Summit, a joint venture of the AMA and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention: www.preventinfluenza.org/
- www.flu.org the official flu-related Web site of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
- The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2009 H1N1 Flu site: www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/
Pediatric Center of Round Rock.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 10:35 am and is filed under Health Alerts, Influenza (Flu). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
