Several North Carolina counties short on seasonal flu vaccine

H1N1 vaccines aren’t the only ones running out. This year, some N.C. counties are also finding it hard to keep stocked with the seasonal flu vaccine.

Officials in county health departments attribute the increase in demand for the general flu vaccine to people taking extra precautions against H1N1. The general vaccine can lessen the risk of catching H1N1.

The production of vaccines also might have slowed because private manufacturers have to produce both types of vaccines and are stretched thin, said Arlene Seña, medical director of the Durham County Health Department.

 Durham County is one of the counties that has run out of seasonal flu vaccines.

“Several thousand were requested. We have been ordering the same amount for the past years,” Seña said.

The county is waiting for the shipment of both seasonal and H1N1 vaccines from the state. It already used up its supply of seasonal vaccines manufactured by private companies.

Wake County already received shipments of both vaccines from the state, said Sue Lynn Ledford, the community health director for Wake County Health Department.

“We have a limited supply,” she said. “But we have, at this time, enough to cover our scheduled clinics.”

Ledford said the demand for seasonal vaccines is higher, and it could be because of media coverage of H1N1. Anticipating this, the county ordered a higher number of vaccines than usual.

“Because of the publicity, we knew that there was going to be a lot of information out there encouraging people to get vaccinated for H1N1,” she said.

But Orange County has enough vaccines, both from the state and private manufacturers, to cover clinics that registered for vaccines early in August, said Donna King, director of health promotion and education services for the Orange County Health Department.

The vaccines should last until Nov. 11, she said.

The county also has three more clinics affiliated with senior centers that have not yet received vaccines.

Getting those vaccines should help the supply hold out a little longer.

“We do anticipate getting them,” King said. “We are waiting for them so that they may carry us through mid-November.”



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