Congress Demands Answers Over H1N1 Vaccine Shortage

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2009— -- The Obama administration has ratchetted up demand for H1N1 flu vaccine, without sufficient supply to meet that demand, two senators charged in a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services.

The "glaring discrepancy" between the demand for the vaccine and the supply available has resulted in pregnant women and others considered high-risk for the flu lining up for hours at clinics across the country to receive the vaccine, only to be turned away because of shortages, the letter said.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and ranking member Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, issued the letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, demanding answers as to why the department "insisted on promoting a plan for which the federal government did not have anywhere near sufficient resources to implement."

The letter, dated Nov. 16, argues that the primary problem is not the pace of vaccine development or the amount of vaccine developed thus far, but the mismanagement of public expectations about who could expect to receive the vaccine, and when.

"This problem was created in part by HHS's decision to promote vaccination of an initial target group that represents almost half the U.S. population; 160 million people," the senators wrote.

"The glaring discrepancy between the demand for and supply of H1N1 vaccine in our country has resulted in pregnant women standing in line for hours, only to find no vaccine at the end," the letter said. "This shortage of vaccine has left many parents of children in high risk groups scrambling, often in frustration, to find the vaccine the government has told them that they need.

"The fact is the response failed to meet the public demand for vaccine -- demand that the federal government accelerated by advising a larger group of the public to be vaccinated than it had the resources to meet," the senators wrote.

This afternoon, the committee has scheduled a hearing, and plans to call on HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Nicole Lurie to testify on behalf of the department.