Flu Vaccine Stocks Run Low as Disease Strikes Early

The nation is on the verge of running out of flu vaccine because the winter flu season arrived early, vaccine distributors say.

Shortages are coming even though manufacturers anticipated a bad flu season and produced enough vaccine to meet heavy demand.

The federal Centers for Disease Control estimated that vaccine production this year was sufficient for 30 million people. Vaccine makers refused to say how much they produced but said they have sold virtually all of it. Federal officials have no information on how much vaccine has been produced this year--they do not monitor use of influenza vaccine.

General Injectables & Vaccines Inc. of Bastian, Va., which describes itself as the largest distributor of flu vaccine in the country, said the company will run out of supplies today, company spokesman Joseph Gregory said.

Flu seasons vary from region to region but typically do not begin in force until December. This year, federal health officials were already warning in October that this winter’s flu strains would be particularly widespread.

In some regions of the country, supplies were adequate, but in several other cities officials said they had run out or were trying to get extra vaccine.

Problem areas include Massachusetts, Georgia and Washington, D.C., with officials in other areas worried about how they will get through the season.

“Everyone is wiped out,” said Bob Bessie of Bessie Medical in Cincinnati.

Officials in Minnesota, Tennessee and Colorado said they still have enough vaccine only because they scrambled to find supplies.

Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories of Philadelphia, which sold more than 10 million doses, said it would produce another 500,000 doses to be available in January. It takes one month to produce a new supply.

The CDC has confirmed seasonal flu strains in 21 states. Influenza kills about 20,000 Americans annually.