Flu vaccine shortage
Despite 14 million doses of flu vaccine being available this year — far more than the 11 million doses required to vaccinate the “recommended” population, in England the Department of Health is supplying vaccines from its contingency stock of 400,000 doses.
“There is some concern that the vaccine may have been used in the “worried
well” rather than the pre-agreed risk groups and this has contributed
to the shortfall,” said David Salisbury, head of immunisation at
the DoH. “The manufacturers have informed the DoH that there are
still pre-ordered doses of vaccine scheduled for delivery.”
However a report in Pulse (3 December) suggests that the DoH neglected
to include 1.3 million health care workers and an unknown number of eligible
carers in its estimate.
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Hospital Pharmacist