Flu Vaccinations Starting Two Weeks Late This Year

The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services will begin conducting free influenza shot clinics Nov. 1, two weeks later than usual because of difficulties producing vaccines against new flu strains, officials said Friday.

The vaccine will be available at public health centers with immunization clinics in mid-November, two to four weeks behind schedule, said Dr. A. Nelson El Amin, medical director for the Los Angeles County immunization program.

Nationwide, vaccines will arrive at government-funded programs, private physicians and corner drugstores later than usual after the four manufacturers of U.S. flu vaccines had trouble growing one of the three virus strains. In addition, two companies slowed production due to quality-control violations.

Officials said they hope most people, especially those at high risk of developing serious complications from a bout with the flu, will be able to be vaccinated before flu season hits. Nelson El Amin said the flu season has peaked in December only four times in the past 18 years. It has peaked four times in January, seven times in February and three times in March.

“The odds are in our favor,” he said.

The county is targeting its flu clinics at high-risk groups: People 65 and older, anyone with a chronic illness (such as heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, compromised immune system or kidney disease), residents of skilled nursing facilities and pregnant women in their second or third trimester during the flu season.

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Flu epidemics occur nearly every year and are responsible for an average of 20,000 deaths per year in the United States, according to the Advisory Committee of Immunization Practices.

The county will hold 161 flu shot clinics in places such as senior centers, community centers, hospitals and American Red Cross facilities. The final clinic is scheduled for Dec. 6.

“We’re targeting people in high-risk groups by the location of the clinics,” said Nelson El Amin. “If a non-high-risk person comes in, we’ll go ahead and immunize them. It’s not our role to turn anyone away.”

The flu shot also will be available from private physicians, health maintenance organizations and at various drugstores on specific days.

The first county-sponsored flu clinic in the San Fernando Valley is scheduled Nov. 1 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the American Red Cross office in Van Nuys. There will be 33 clinics in the San Fernando Valley, six in the Santa Clarita Valley and five in the Antelope Valley.

For more locations, call (213) 580-9800 during business hours or see the county’s Web site at https://www.publichealth.org/ip on the Internet.