Nursing Home Patients Need More Flu Vaccine
November 16, 2005
Thousands of nursing home patients throughout the country may not be able to get a flu shot this flu season due to shortages and stockpiling. The state of Minnesota's Health Department asked other medical facilities to consider keeping some flu vaccines available for nursing home patients, who may have to run the risk of going through flu season without a shot.
Kris Ehresmann, head of the state's Health Department immunization program said she expects more vaccine to come into Minnesota but she wants to make sure that nursing home patients are at the top of the list as recipiants. This is the second year in a row that Minnesota has run low on flu vaccines for nursing homes.
Ehresmann said the state may need to move thousands of doses to facilities in need and offer incentives to companies, hospitals, and clinics to sell their doses to nursing homes. A noon teleconference between Ehresmann and hospital and clinic officials is scheduled for today.
This year in Minnesota there have been no reported cases of the flu, though one nursing home did report flu-like symptoms. This year the country does have more flu vaccines available than last year.
In 2004 a flu vaccine making facility was shut down after faulty batches of the vaccine were found to be manufactured there. Most nursing homes in Minnesota had no or very little vaccines in 2004.
This year, the US government promised that there would be more flu vaccine availability than ever, some 80 million doses. But the reality of the situation has the vaccines arriving too late, or in lower amounts than customers had ordered. Many flu shot clinics around the country have closed their doors due to the unexpected shortages and delays in shipping.
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