According to an article in the New York Times, “Officials Defend Handling of Flu Vaccine,” written by Donald McNeil Jr., federal health officials said that the present swine flu vaccine shortage is not their fault, but rather a series of unfortunate events. There has been a shortage since the vaccine first began being administered in October, leaving at-risk populations, pregnant women, children, and people with illnesses such as asthma, often without the H1N1 flu shot. So, what happened to all of the vaccines?
Reasons for the swine flu vaccine shortage
There are a number of explanations for the swine flu vaccine shortage according to federal officials. First, the vaccine production method is not fast enough, viruses did not grow as quickly as expected in some cases, and the egg-based virus harvesting methods are apparently outdated. The government has in fact given $1.3 billion to vaccine makers to develop more efficient methods. So far, methods such as using mammal cell broths have been developed, but not approved.
Also, the government complains that most of the factories are located outside of the United States, slowing down the process even more. They argue that this is a good reason to develop state-of-the-art manufacturing plants in the United States. If the swine flu is going to be a regular addition to the season flu every year, and shortages are going to be a running theme in the public health care system, the federal government can easily justify building US-based factories.
The third issue is control. The federal government did not take complete control of swine flu vaccine distribution, leaving local health officials to distribute vaccines. Many people in the high-risk populations have had trouble, or have not received the swine flu shot at all in certain regions of the country.
What is the status of the swine flu vaccine shortage today?
At this point, about 47.5 million doses have been allocated, with 68,300 to Washington, over one million for Virginia, and just over 700,000 swine flu doses to Maryland according to the CDC. Before the flu season began, 120 million to 250 million swine flu vaccine doses were predicted, more than enough to assure the American population that there would be plenty of vaccines to go around, to deal with the swine flu ‘national emergency.’
Is the swine flu vaccine shortage that bad?
At this point, schools, hospitals, and federal agencies are doing what they can to make sure at-risk populations have access to the vaccine. Still, we do not know the negative effects of taking the flu shot, such as a weaker overall immune system, and a potential dependency on the vaccine every year. It is natural and wise to boost the immune system during the flu season, and nature has provided many anti-viral herbs and foods to do just that. The vaccine may not be necessary in the first place, leaving the worries about shortages and possible adverse effects to the wind.
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