July 2002 • Volume 8 • Number 7 |
Think back to last year's flu season. Were you one of the thousands of physicians who had trouble obtaining influenza vaccine early in the season because of widespread vaccine shortages? Well, then it might surprise you to hear that 20 million doses of vaccine went unused during the 2001 2002 flu season. But that's exactly what happened, health officials learned at the National Influenza Vaccine Summit May 22 23 in Atlanta.
Particularly frustrating for health officials, says Herbert Young, M.D., director of the AAFP Scientific Activities Division, is the fact that only about half of persons 65 and older were immunized against flu last year. Young represented the AAFP at the meeting, which was convened by the CDC and AMA to address problems health professionals have faced in acquiring influenza vaccine in a timely manner and at an affordable price.
AAFP's position is that efforts should be strengthened to ensure flu vaccine is available for high-risk patients such as those in nursing homes or with comorbidities, says Young. However, many patients at increased risk do not see themselves as such, according to CDC research presented at the meeting. In particular, the well elderly do not realize the importance of being immunized.
At the meeting, manufacturers presented their plans to ship vaccine to physicians and health care facilities as soon as it is available. Full or partial orders would be shipped at different times, depending on the quantity initially ordered. Manufacturers told meeting participants that their production processes no longer allow vaccine delivery as far in advance as physicians have been accustomed to.
Other key points from the meeting included:
The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the AAFP continue to recommend that high-risk persons and their caregivers be immunized no later than October. All other persons should be immunized in November or later in the flu season.
Additional efforts are needed to urge these persons to get immunized even after October and November. The vaccine is effective two weeks after being given.
The vaccination reimbursement level should be set early on, and this information should be forwarded to intermediaries as soon as it becomes available. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is working with the CDC and FDA on this issue.
Groups represented at the meeting included medical professional organizations, vaccine manufacturers and distributors, mass immunization providers, occupational health programs, and government agencies.
FP Report is published by the AAFP
News Department.
Copyright © 2002 by American Academy of Family Physicians.