More doses of vaccine on the way

Spokane hospitals, doctors’ offices and nursing homes will get 7,760 doses of flu vaccine in the coming weeks. That’s Spokane County’s share of 160,000 doses headed to Washington state from manufacturer Aventis Pasteur.

Instead of scheduling more public flu shot clinics, Spokane Regional Health District leaders decided to get the new vaccine directly to 22 institutions and private practices serving people at the highest risk of dying from influenza complications.

All four Spokane hospitals are on the list, but the health district would not name the other institutions.

Some of the institutions may make the vaccine available to health-care workers who care for high-risk patients, said Julie Graham, spokeswoman for the health district.

During this year’s national vaccine shortage, about 800,000 doses have been distributed in Washington state by both private companies and public agencies, said Donn Moyer, a spokesman for the state Department of Health.

There are an estimated 2 million high-risk people in Washington state. But in a normal year, only 44 percent of those high-risk people get flu shots.

Half the expected U.S. flu vaccine supply was cut off in October.

That’s when a Chiron Corporation manufacturing plant in England was shut down due to contamination problems.

Last year, the Spokane Regional Health District distributed 11,000 flu shots at clinics open to the public. This year, due to the nationwide shortage, the health district has distributed only 4,000 doses.

Both years, the private sector also gave thousands of flu shots in Spokane County. No agency tracks the number of doses distributed through the private sector, either last year or this year, Graham said.

There are an estimated 53,000 people age 65 and older in Spokane County. People 65 and older are one of the high-risk groups targeted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to receive vaccine.

The new vaccine headed to Spokane County is part of 7.2 million doses now being divvied up among the states by the CDC, which took charge of distribution due to the shortage.

In Washington, the Department of Health is dividing up the doses based on requests from regional health districts.

All health districts will receive the total amount of their orders, Moyer said.

Residents of Eastern Washington should call their health care providers to see if they will be getting more vaccine, said health district officials in several counties.

In Stevens, Pend Oreille and Ferry counties, 510 new doses will be distributed to clinics in Northport, Ione, Springdale, Loon Lake, Chewelah and other places.

Whitman County’s public health department did not order more vaccine, said Judy Stone, infection control coordinator.

Surrounding counties needed the vaccine more, Stone said.