Vulnerable Need Flu Vaccine First Officials Ask Retailers’ Help

There isn’t enough flu vaccine for everyone, and Spokane health officials are urging a rationing of the shots to those who need them most.

“Our concern,” said Dr. Rod Trytko, president of the Spokane County Medical Society, “is that those who are at high risk - individuals who are elderly or with chronic diseases or late in pregnancy - may die from the flu if they do not have access to the vaccine first.”

There is a nationwide shortage of the vaccine this year, which offers protection against three strains of flu. Several manufacturers are having trouble growing one of the strains.

Health officials are urging large retailers - which have become major outlets for vaccinations - to follow the Centers for Disease Control guidelines for who should get a shot first during a shortage.

“There is this maldistribution,” said Dr. Tim Chestnut, a local pulmonologist. “Certain large corporations that contract with distributors got a large amount of vaccine, while many physician offices - which are smaller players - got no vaccine.”

Chestnut didn’t name any companies, but Charles Burnett, vice president of pharmacy for Costco, confirmed the company had contracted with Maxim Health Services to provide 500,000 vaccinations nationally through its stores.

“We contracted with them before we knew there would be a shortage,” Burnett said. “Basically, we are just allowing them to run their clinics in our buildings. The nine bucks that were charged went to Maxim. We got no money out of it.”

Costco attempted to inform customers of the shortage and the need for high-risk people to get the vaccines first, but no one was turned away.

“We’d have to ask people questions that bordered on privacy issues,” Burnett said. “We didn’t feel we had a right to ask them.”

He said stores also tried to notify physicians that if they had high-risk patients needing the vaccine the Costco clinics would attempt to accommodate them.

Costco is done with its vaccine program for the year, Burnett said.

Maxim officials could not be reached for comment Friday. However, a Maxim press release received through one of its customers, Albertson’s, said the company is postponing the clinics it had scheduled in a host of retail chains across the nation.

“We fully support CDC efforts to reach high-risk individuals first,” said Steve Wright, director of wellness service for Maxim, in the press release.

“Even though the initiative has severely limited the vaccine available for our retail and corporate flu programs, we do anticipate resuming our schedule of retail clinics, as additional vaccine supplies become available,” Wright said. “At that time, we will continue to make every effort to reach high-risk individuals first.”

An informal and incomplete survey of retailers in the Spokane area found only one Rosauers store offering vaccinations this weekend.

A clerk at the store, at 907 W. 14th, said the store had roughly 200 shots that would be given on Sunday between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. The store planned to follow the CDC guidelines. Corporate officials for Rosauers could not be reached on Friday.

Fred Meyer plans to offer vaccinations, but has not received its shipment yet, said Rob Boley, assistant vice president of public relations.

“We’ve instructed our pharmacies to follow the CDC guidelines and give priority to high-risk patients,” Boley said.

Dr. Kim Thorburn, health officer for the Spokane Regional Health District, urged the public to follow the CDC guidelines themselves.

“The rest of us can get the flu - it is very infectious - and certainly we will lose some days from work, but we are not going to die from it,” she said.

The Spokane County Regional Health District had to turn people away after administering its stock of 1,000 vaccinations to high-risk clients on Thursday, Thorburn said.

“That demonstrates the need in the community,” she said. “We know we are not reaching all the high-risk and there are many more that need it. Where there is flu vaccine, we do really need to reserve it.”

The health district expects 320 doses to arrive on Nov. 27 and then sporadic shipments of 200 to 400 doses until Christmas, when 2,500 doses are expected to arrive.

The CDC met with vaccine manufacturers last month. At that time, the manufacturers predicted they would be able to meet full demand by the end of December - that’s compared to their usual delivery date of late October, Thorburn said.

“The good news is we haven’t seen any flu here in Washington,” Thorburn said. “If people could just wait, we are being told there will be ample supply by the end of December. And that is when we usually start seeing influenza in Washington. If it is a normal season we generally don’t peak until later in the season around January and February.”

This sidebar appeared with the story:

CLOSER LOOK

CDC guidelines

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending the following groups be allowed to have vaccinations first:

Those over 65 years old

Nursing home residents

Health care facilities housing people with chronic illness

Children and adults with chronic pulmonary and cardiovascular disorders, including asthma

Children and adults who have required regular medical follow-up because of chronic metabolic diseases, including diabetes, renal dysfunction, hemoglobinpathies or immunosuppression

People aged 6 months to 18 years who are receiving long-term aspirin therapy

Pregnant women in the second or third trimester of pregnancy.