Influenza Vaccine Supply Inadequate To Inoculate All at High-Risk, Federal Officials Say
Although a record 100 million doses of influenza vaccine will be available this flu season, the supply is inadequate to provide inoculations to the 185 million people who CDC recommends receive them, federal officials said at a Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
Dr. Steven Ostroff of the CDC said, "Additional efforts are needed to ensure that current recommendations for influenza vaccination for all high-risk individuals, those who live in households with high-risk individuals and health care workers that care for these persons are fully implemented." Committee Chair Larry Craig (R-Idaho) said, "With news reports of people standing in line for hours to be immunized, many of us questioned for the first time whether we can assume that everyone who needs a vaccine can obtain one." In an effort to help meet that end, CDC this year will for the first time stockpile 4.5 million doses of influenza vaccine and make them available in December (Maltin, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 9/28).