Wisconsin has weathered the storm of a severe flu shot shortage and now more people will be eligible to receive a vaccination, Gov. Jim Doyle announced Tuesday.
Starting Monday, citizens older than 50 years of age and people living in a household with a high-risk person will be added to the list of people qualified to receive the vaccination.
“No one [has] to get sick during the holiday season when it could have been prevented by a simple vaccine,” Doyle said at a Capitol news conference. “It’s an inconvenience to some; it’s life-threatening to others.”
Wisconsin — and the nation — has scrambled to cope with a shortage of vaccinations brought upon by Chiron Corporation’s October announcement that the company’s Liverpool, England plant had lost its license. Chiron’s Fluvirin vaccine had been expected to account for half of the United States’ supply for the 2004-05 flu season.
Doyle issued an emergency health order Oct. 15 declaring only children younger than 23 months, adults over 65, persons 2-64 with underlying chronic medical and other specific medical criteria would be allowed to receive the flu vaccine this year in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin was one of approximately 15 states to issue an emergency order in the wake of Chiron’s announcement.
Doyle credited the order with preserving 160,000 of the state’s 1.35 million flu vaccines for the year and said the time was right to grant access to the shot to a wider group of people.
“Because people were willing to follow our first public health order, we avoided the nightmare scenario: running out of vaccines and leaving our most vulnerable citizens unprotected,” Doyle said. “Now we are ready to take the next step and make the vaccines available to more of those who need them.”
State Health Officer Herb Bostrom urged those falling under the first priority group to receive a vaccination before Monday if they have not done so already. Bostrom said the shot typically takes 10-14 days to take effect and must be administered within the next couple of weeks to be effective during the peak of the Wisconsin flu season.
“This week is the time for those who are still in the high risk group to come forward and get vaccinated,” Bostrom said.
Nationally, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced Tuesday the federal government had purchased 1.2 million doses of the Fluarix vaccine from manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline. The vaccine — not licensed by the Food and Drug Administration but approved by European equivalents of the FDA — will be distributed to areas of greatest need under an Investigational New Drug application.
Doyle labeled the national shortage “both predictable and preventable” and urged the federal government to overhaul a system dependent on only two major flu vaccination manufacturers.
At the University of Wisconsin, University Health Services entered the flu season with 2,000 vaccinations and has since used half of them, according to UHS Spokesman Craig Roberts.
Although lowering the eligible age for a shot to 50 will affect few students, Roberts said a number of students living with high-risk individuals will now be able to obtain the shot.
“Doyle’s announcement opens it up for students living with someone at risk for complications, maybe someone going home Christmas break to live with an elderly family member, or someone with a high-risk roommate,” Roberts said, adding he was unaware of UHS diagnosing any documented cases of the flu so far this year.
Roberts said UHS would pursue additional vaccinations if demand existed into January but said students rarely come in for the shot once the second semester has started.
