Opinion: Flu vaccine shortage unacceptable

10/14/04Last week the public learned that almost half of the nation's supply of flu vaccines would be unavailable due to possible contamination. Healthcare officials announce every flu season the importance of getting vaccinated, even for normally healthy individuals. But this year, they face perhaps one of their worst nightmares. They have to choose who is worthy to receive one of the precious few vaccines, and who must be turned away. A special committee has begun investigating what led up to the contamination of 48 million doses of the flu vaccine, but it is too little too late.

The House Government Reform Committee wants to know if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had any prior knowledge that the Chiron factory in Liverpool, England, would lose its license. The committee wants to see all documents of the correspondence between the FDA, Chiron and British health agencies. The FDA's British counterpart claims that the FDA knew about problems at the Liverpool plant before the license was revoked. While this investigation will hopefully yield some much-needed answers, it should not take an emergency to get these agencies to communicate efficiently with one another.

With millions of people depending on the vaccines each year, and with only two companies making them for the U.S., big news like a shortage should not have caught the government off-guard. The flu is a matter of public health and safety. Thirty-six thousand people die from the flu each year in this country, and more than 100,000 are hospitalized. These numbers could be about to increase greatly. Because the flu affects so many Americans, the government should be more aware of what is going on the factories producing the vaccines and the FDA should be more forthcoming with news and information.

Even though the current, major shortage was the result of an unpredictable error, a potential flu vaccine crisis has been in the works for years. Over the past decade, manufacturers have disappeared, resulting in a series of shortages. During last year's flu season, doctors ran out of vaccine. For the past three years there has been a shortage of other vaccines, such as tetanus and measles. Public health officials who have noticed this trend think that some of crisis was inevitable. Too bad the government did not seem to notice.

Vaccine manufacturers have halted their production over the years because it simply was not profitable enough. Even though vaccines could be one of modern medicine's most important achievements, the government does not encourage companies to invest in research to develop new vaccines. This low return on investments, along with the expensive and time-consuming process of making the vaccines, has caused so many drug companies to stop production. The government should realize that it is in the best interest of America's citizens to provide incentives for companies to begin production and research on vaccines.

The flu is an ever-changing virus, capable of becoming more deadly each season. It is time that the government stops turning its back on such an important aspect of public safety and health care in America. The private sector purchases the majority of flu vaccines, paying about $20 a piece. Meanwhile the government gets an even greater discount on the doses it buys. Considering the time span (it takes about four months to make enough vaccine for the United States) and the laborious process of making the vaccine, it's not wonder drug companies have decided they can't afford to do it anymore. There must be standards that ensure drug companies are making enough money to continue the production of their most important product.

It is time for some serious teamwork. The FDA and the drug companies need to work together to ensure that from here on out the flu vaccine situation only gets better. It is possibly the most serious and immediate threat facing the health of the American people, and they should have seen it coming.