New Flu Vaccine Shipment Offers Relief From Shortage

State health officials said Tuesday they have received an additional 130,000 doses of flu vaccine and remain hopeful they will be able to fill California’s needs by the end of the month.

The new shipments come as local health authorities and social workers struggle with a shortage of the flu vaccine that has left thousands of senior citizens and frail people without their shots.

Some counties Tuesday began rescheduling flu shot clinics that had been canceled because of the shortage. But other officials expressed doubt that those in need will be protected before the flu season arrives in December.

“We keep hearing we’re going to get it, and we’re not getting it,” said Dr. Susan Fernyak, director of communicable disease prevention for the San Francisco County Health Department.

The shortage has affected not merely government clinics, but private customers such as doctors’ offices, pharmacies and hospitals.

Los Angeles County, which had to cancel about 30 of its 165 outreach clinics, does not know how it will divvy up its new ration until officials know for sure how much is coming and when it will arrive, said John Schunhoff, the county’s chief of operations for public health.

“The most important thing will be getting it to those in the highest risk groups,” he said.

In Orange County, which expects 20,000 new doses, officials are trying to arrange large-scale clinics at sites that can accommodate the hefty volume of people who were turned away when 100 free flu shot sessions were canceled earlier this month. Officials hope to have some clinics scheduled by as early as this weekend, said Mary Wright, immunization coordinator for the county.

In a related development, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion by Supervisor Don Knabe seeking a federal investigation into the delivery problems and a task force of private and public representatives to develop a master distribution plan for flu vaccine.

U.S. Rep. Gary A. Condit (D-Ceres) announced last week that he is calling for hearings on the vaccine snafus.

The state Department of Health Services, which distributes about 10% of the vaccine administered in the state, ordered 700,000 doses this year. With the latest shipments, it has received 420,000 doses, about 60% of the need.

Dr. Natalie Smith, immunization branch chief for the state health department, said the new batches will be shipped to counties “as soon as we turn it around in our office. . . . Hopefully, we can get them the rest of their orders within the next couple of weeks.”

The vaccine delays were caused largely by manufacturing problems. Some leading makers of the vaccine reported trouble growing a common strain of the virus and others got late starts because of quality control issues.

The shortage has led to a panic of sorts in some communities. Thousands of mostly senior citizens sought flu shots Saturday at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, causing gridlock on nearby streets.

But with new state-issue vaccines on the way, health officials in some regions were contemplating new plans to distribute the vaccine to the elderly, poor, homeless and other high-risk individuals.