News / 

Flu Vaccine Becoming Scarce in the U.S.


Save Story
Leer en espaƱol

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

NEW YORK, Dec 06, 2003 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Fears are mounting that supplies of flu vaccines are running out in the United States at a time when influenza is popping up earlier than normal.

Vaccine makers said Friday they had shipped out their entire supplies, and health officials said they were trying to determine whether there was enough vaccine left to immunize people who still want flu shots, the New York Times reported.

More vaccine cannot be made in time for this year's flu season.

Fears of the disease, prompted by unusually early and widespread outbreaks, mostly in Western states, have fueled a high demand for the vaccine.

"This is looking like a year when more vaccine is being used by more people in the United States than any other year," said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, chief of the influenza epidemiology branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Vaccine supplies are getting smaller. One of the things we're trying to do right now is get a sense of how much vaccine is out there."

The nation's two vaccine makers, Aventis Pasteur and Chiron, said they had shipped out all the vaccine they had made, a total of about 80 million doses.

Copyright 2003 by United Press International.

Most recent News stories

STAY IN THE KNOW

Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Newsletter Signup

KSL Weather Forecast

KSL Weather Forecast
Play button