flu shot shortage????

[mtemm]

Just off the phone with my children's ped office. when we had our twins 2.5 year appt last month, the dr. told me he was putting us on the list to get the shots first because my 4 year old has asthma and my 2 year olds were preemies. said the shots wouldn't be in until october, but we would get a call.

well, here we are at the end of october and no call, so I call. the woman on the phone said they don't have enough, that they have a huge shortage, only get 30 in at a time and have 100s of children on the must have list. okaaaay. I asked her if this was normal for their practice (we moved here late last fall and already had our flu shots), and she said yes, it is, that for the past 9 years at least it has been the same thing. they are supposed to get 30 more doses in next week, but she has no idea when. If I call at the right moment, apparently my kids will be lucky enough to get them, if not, sounds like they might be out of luck.

I've never heard of anything like this. even during the last couple of years when shortages were all over the news, our peds were able to get my kids their shots. we lived in upstate NY then, now are in MA. The woman I spoke to said she had no idea why it was like this here, didn't know if it was a federal thing or a state thing.

is anybody else having a hard time getting shots? what the heck am I supposed to do? Seems like someone has dropped the ball at this office, or is it really a MA thing? if its not a MA thing and anyone has a ped they can recommend in or near sudbury, this might just be enough for me to switch.

thanks!

 

[Christine]

This year was the worst for us in getting an appointment.

In years past, my kids have gotten their shots as early as the end of September but never past mid-October. I called all through October and they weren't even taking appointments because they had no vaccine. I finally got an appointment yesterday. They are giving shots now but apparently I couldn't get in until NOVEMBER 9th!! (Which is fine really). During all this, I called my son's lung specialist and they also were having problems getting the vaccine and the doctor himself told me that they were given no reason for the delay.

There is no shortage but there are "distribution problems" for some reason.

 

[Pixiedust34]

We are supposed to get our shots in mid-November because that's when the next shipment will be arriving. They didn't say anything about a shortage. Did you ask about the flu mist if the shot is unavailable? Maybe that can be an option for you.

 

[Cool-Beans]

Get a new doctor. All the doctors here have them. My kids got them last week.

Not just doctors, but drugstores and grocery stores around here are doing it.

I got mine, but get it at the hospital. And we have it to give to patients, too.

 

[EthansMom]

I had absolutely no problem getting the flu shot here in CT. Got it for both kids and DH and I. (Both of our kids have asthma.) I've seen flu shots offered at the grocery store and Costco and have not heard of any shortages in our area. I would call around to the Health Department, Costco, and pharmacies to see if there is any availability. It's possible that your doctor didn't get his/her order in on time (they have to order the flu shots in the Spring) or that there was some kind of order/delivery problem for his/her office.

Good Luck!

 

[mickeyboat]

I heard that there was a shortage for babies and small children. I will see if I can find a link.

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/10-06/10-21-06/04health.htm - says some doctors offices are delaying giving shots until their entire supply arrives

http://www.babycenter.com/news/?id=535587#story - says there is a supply issue (distribution related, not a shortage) for the vaccine for ages 3 months to 6 years.

Denae

 

[minkydog]

As Cool-beans says, there is no shortage. *Your* doctor may have a shortage, but there is not nation-wide shortage. My kids, who are not at risk, will be getting theirs next week, my DH who *is* at risk will be getting his after that. I will get mine in November, not because I'm at risk, but because I have had the flu several times in the last 10 yrs and see the value of not getting it again if I can help it.

Call your local pharmacy or your grocery store. Around here they're giving them even at Walmart. No shortage.

 

[clori]

I also live in Eastern Mass (about 5 miles north of Boston). Finally yesterday I was able to schedule a flu shot for my 2 year old (not high risk other than age). I was not able to schedule a flu shot for my 6 year old though I could have put her on some list (she isn't high risk). Last week when I called my own drs office I was told to call back the first week of November to see if they have them, how many, what the priorities are etc. I just have mild asthma. My dh (no risk factors) gets his free yearly at work but they haven't mentioned it yet.

 

[debknight]

Does your 4 yr. old see a separate allergist (because of asthma)? Try calling their office.

The worst of flu season is usually Jan., Feb., and March. So you still have time to get vaccinated.

 

[Iott Family]

We too are having a problem getting the kids their flu shots. My oldest two go to a different Ped than my youngest two because of insurance and my ex has them on his policy and so forth. Anyways all four kids were scheduled by appt. to receive their shots but the calls rolled in about a delay in shipments.
No actual shortage, just a delay. I asked the nurse at the oldest's peds office because of all the flu clinics giving out shots for free to medicare/medicaid patients. She told me they receive their dosages first and are a different scale than the rest of us insurance paying out of our pockets to stay covered folks. So if you are having a hard time getting your children their flu shots, no its not a true shortage, definitely not a national shortage as in years past its just that we who carry insurance policies get our shipments last AFTER the medicare/medicaid recipients are handled. My ex is a firefighter/emt with the city and they havent even received theirs yet.

Yeah, im a little bitter that we are stuck sitting on our hands waiting for our turn so I apologize if I come across cold hearted on the medicare thing. Its a good thing to have im sure!

 

[mickeyboat]

Yeah, im a little bitter that we are stuck sitting on our hands waiting for our turn so I apologize if I come across cold hearted on the medicare thing. Its a good thing to have im sure!

Actually, the shots for adults are different than the ones for children, so medicare recipients are not taking from the pool that is available for your kids.

Denae

 

[4nana]

Thankfully, doesn't seem to be a problem in our area yet. Our grands all got flu nasal spray type offered free at their schools first of this month. DH got his free at the local out patient VA Center. Most of the grocery stores have them on certain days for $20, our drs office has them for your ins copay or $20 and our health dept offers them for a donation. I will probably get mine this week when I go grocery shopping.

 

[juligrl]

My girls are going on Thursday for theirs, so no problem here yet (said while knocking on wood).

 

[DVC-Don]

I got a letter from our doc saying he is not offering any flu shots at all, to anyone this year.

 

[Fire14]

I know I read/heard something about one of the suppliers having issues of some sort and that was why walmart/ walgreens had theirs because they get theirs from another supplier. Our flushot serum has been sitting in med room for a month now.

 

[SwedishMeatball]

My husband works for an insurance company and has spoken with local Wal-Mart pharmacists and something like 7500 of their stores nationwide have had issues with the alarms going off when they open their shipments. This indicates that the supply was exposed to extreme temps and ruins the batch. They had to cancel several shot clinics this past weekend.

 

[keishashadow]

Not in my area...

youngest DS was given one @ ped. last Friday when we were there for another matter &

my elderly mom got hers today @ local clinic/hospital

dh & I are skipping it this year, got our 1st last year & both of us got sick.

 

[Iott Family]

Actually, the shots for adults are different than the ones for children, so medicare recipients are not taking from the pool that is available for your kids.

Denae
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Thanks Denae! Im sure the nurse at the peds office was just misinformed. Makes no difference anyways because none of us have been able to get a flu shot as of yet. We are on a waiting list for the third week in november. keeping fingers crossed here.

 

[Galahad]

Actually, the shots for adults are different than the ones for children, so medicare recipients are not taking from the pool that is available for your kids.

Denae
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Thanks Denae! Im sure the nurse at the peds office was just misinformed. Makes no difference anyways because none of us have been able to get a flu shot as of yet. We are on a waiting list for the third week in november. keeping fingers crossed here.

I think it's interesting that you have to wait. Here at my office in Indy they gave about 2000 people flu shots yesterday and there was a piece in the paper yesterday about driver through flu shot clinics all over town. Must be a complicated distribution issue rather than a shortage.

 

[Geoff_M]

Galahad,

You are correct, the problems are distribution related and aren't related to supply or manufacturing. It also appears to be regional or localized because places around here are advertising their availability on their signs.