Will You Be Able to Get a Flu Shot?

Oct. 17, 2005 — -- With many emergency rooms already overcrowded, health experts are urging the public to shake off bad memories of last year's flu shot fiasco and get vaccinated before the influenza virus peaks.

Unlike last year, there should be plenty of vaccine on hand, although some clinics are still waiting on shipments. The virus usually doesn't spread widely until the coldest months of the year, when people are indoors the most, passing cold viruses and other infectious ailments.

"So far, the best sign is that I hear from the companies that ordering of the vaccine is good," said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn. If orders from the firms producing the vaccine are up, he said, people are likely demanding shots from their doctors or other health care providers.

Right now, flu shots are being recommended only for those at increased risk of catching or transmitting the disease, such as older adults and day care workers. After Oct. 24, anyone will be eligible for vaccination, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year, this was delayed by several months, and many healthy adults did not get vaccinated.

Supply was severely limited at the start of the flu season last year when Chiron Corporation, a major manufacturer of flu shots, was forced to shut down a manufacturing plant. Those most in the need -- the elderly and the chronically ill -- waited in long lines outside clinics for their shots.

But by the end of winter, clinics were well-stocked with vaccines. It was too late -- the threat of the virus had waned, and many of those shots went unused. The flu shot must be updated every year to include more strains of the virus, which crop up periodically.

This year's apparent strong public interest is welcome news to Dr. Rick Blum, an emergency medicine physician.