Shortage Cancels County Flu Shot Clinics

A nationwide shortage of flu vaccine prompted Orange County health officials on Tuesday to cancel more than 100 scheduled clinics.

“We’ve pretty much run out of doses because of a stronger-than-normal demand,” said Howard Sutter, spokesman for the Orange County Health Care Agency, which usually dispenses about 100,000 doses a year.

“People are also finding that typical sources for flu shots, like doctors’ offices, are out of the vaccine this year. So more of them are going to clinics and senior centers for the vaccine,” Sutter said.

State health officials said they anticipate that more vaccine will arrive later this month or in early December, a couple of weeks before the flu season starts. California has received only one-third of its expected supply from distributors, said Dr. Natalie Smith, immunization branch chief for the California Department of Health Services.

“The whole system has been slow,” Smith said. “The good news is the flu season hasn’t started yet. We’ve only had a few cases so far.”

The flu typically rages in February and March, Smith said. By then, state officials anticipate that they will have distributed more than 700,000 shots to the county agencies.

On Tuesday, some private health care providers reported that they have only a fraction of their normal supply of the shots. A spokesman for California’s largest health-maintenance organization, Kaiser Permanente, said the company doesn’t have enough to treat its patients.

“What’s frustrating . . . is we have no idea when we’ll get any more,” Kaiser spokesman Jim Anderson said. “We never got the amount that we needed. All I can say is we’re supposed to get more.”

An estimated 2,000 people die in California each year from the flu or related complications, according to the state.

Of the flu vaccine that is available in Orange County, health officials are limiting shots to people older than 60, pregnant women and those who have health complications such as diabetes or heart and lung problems, including asthma. Because it takes about two weeks for the benefits of the vaccination to kick in, county health officials instructed high-risk individuals to limit their exposure to people who have symptoms such as cough, sore throat or fever.

Flu vaccine manufacturers warned federal officials several months ago to expect delays in shipments and a possible reduction in the total number of shots available, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. One major manufacturer of the vaccine got a late production start, and another company decided not to make vaccine this year. Other companies that make the shot had trouble producing the strain of the virus needed.

“We started hearing in July about manufacturing and distribution problems,” said Mary Wright of the Orange County Health Care Agency’s immunization program. Because of the problems, the agency pushed back the beginning of its immunization program from October to November. Then the county failed to receive expected shipments.

“We’ve been on a day-to-day basis, waiting,” Wright said.

When state health officials alerted Orange County on Monday that other shipments would not arrive for at least a week, local officials decided to cancel clinics set for November and early December.

Some clinics will still go on. Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach will offer its annual drive-through shot clinic on Saturday on a first-come, first-served basis, said Debra Legan, a spokeswoman for the hospital.

“We’ve purchased our own supply of the flu vaccine, separate from the county,” Legan said.

Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center is planning its clinic Nov. 18 as scheduled. Kathleen O’Brien, a business development manager whose job it is to find the vaccine from various distributors, said she scrambled Tuesday to find a supplier.

By day’s end, she had not found one, she said, but “I’m confident I’ll be able to buy the vaccine for the clinic. If the county can’t supply it, we’ll get it from our own suppliers.”

Times Staff Writers Matthew Ebnet, Elaine Gale and Christine Hanley contributed to this report.