After initially receiving only 10 percent of its expected influenza vaccine supplies this year, Duke University Medical Center officials have successfully acquired approximately 7,000 additional doses—doubling earlier supplies.
Combined, there are now enough vaccines to inoculate most high-risk patients, health care workers in high-risk areas and a select few other patients and students. Officials said more supplies continue to “trickle” in each week.
The new doses were obtained through various means, including from a few wholesale suppliers and through various groups who were forced to cancel community vaccine clinics due to rationing recommendations released in early October by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Some of these new doses are reaching students—a select few were vaccinated Wednesday night by Student Health.
Jean Hanson, administrative director for Student Health, said 200 students were also vaccinated through the Blue Cross/Blue Shield organization, which fulfilled its promise to vaccinate all “high risk” students who were covered under its plan. The company also sold vaccines to students that were on clinical rotations in the hospital.
DUMC administrators also hope to obtain more supplies later this month when the federal government releases 14 million doses.
Duke is not the only health care facility facing this crisis. When California-based pharmaceutical company Chiron was forced to close one of its flu vaccine factories in Great Britain, about 50 percent of expected U.S. supplies were lost. Since it bought a large majority of its supplies from Chiron, DUMC lost even more—90 percent—of their supplies.
Although no course of action has been decided for next year, DUMC officials have offered suggestions about how to prevent this problem from occurring in the future.
“One of the things is that we split our orders into two different manufacturers,” said Dr. Keith Kaye, a Duke Hospital epidemiologist. “You pay more per year, but you cover your back because if one of them has problems, you get 50 percent of vaccines, not 10 percent.”
Student Health has been particularly affected by the dearth of supplies. After ordering 3,000 supplies initially, Student Health officials received only about 100 doses.
After a vaccine clinic that was held Wednesday night for students, officials expect only a few vaccines to remain Thursday morning. These extra supplies will be given out to any student who wants a vaccination, on a first-come, first-serve basis, officials said.
Hanson urged any student who is interested in receiving a flu vaccination to check the Student Health website, which is being updated daily with new information.
So far, Kaye said there have only been a few isolated flu outbreaks reported in North Carolina and preliminary reports lead experts to believe it will be a relatively mild season compared to last year.
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