Finding a flu shot for the littlest patients could be difficult this year.
This marks the first flu season in which the national Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended expanding annual vaccination to children 2 to 5 years old. Previously, the Committee recommended only 6-month to 2-year olds should be vaccinated.
Sanofi Pasteur, the only manufacturer of the vaccine that can be administered to 3-year-olds, reached capacity on orders in January, prior to the extension for children.
Although children are not at risk as much as other age groups, children rapidly transmit the flu by spreading germs in schools and day cares, said Sara Cosgrove, an infection control expert with Johns Hopkins Hospital.
“A lot of flu cases start when a child comes home with what parents believe is the common cold,” she said “[That] becomes a huge risk factor for the entire household.”
In the United States, 36,000 people die every year of influenza, and another 200,000 are hospitalized. The flu vaccination is the number one way to prevent contracting the deadly virus. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates the U.S. will receive approximately 100 million doses of vaccine?16 percent more than last year.
U.S. health providers expect 75 million doses by the end of October. Another 15 million doses may become available if Canadian company, ID Biomedical?s vaccine receives approval.
Novartis Vaccines, formerly Chiron, will provide one-third of the total U.S. supply. In 2004, the Food and Drug Administration deemed Chiron?s flu vaccine unsafe, causing a shortage in the U.S., but company spokeswoman Allison Marquiss said they should be back up to speed.
Their “ability to deliver doses last year signals the company?s return,” she said. Over the past two years, Novartis Vaccines “addressed every area of production from equipment to training to processes, to correct specific problems and make overall improvements,” Marquiss said.
Health officials update the flu vaccine recipe every year to include the latest found virus strains. After receiving a flu shot or the comparable (and relatively new) nasal spray, the body takes two weeks to develop antibodies to protect against the flu.
