Campus vaccinations gone until October

By Olivia Obineme

Published: Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Distribution of the seasonal flu vaccine, which should have taken place over the course of two days, was brought to a close at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, just about eight hours after the start, due to the fast depletion of supplies.

More people were making the effort to immediately get their shots after reports came out on Friday that confirmed 33 cases of the H1N1 virus and roughly 130 flu-like illnesses on campus.

“We put in an order for additional vaccines, and we were told initially that we would get it in time to split it between the two clinics for Tuesday and Wednesday,” director of health services Jane Halpern said.

“But for the new order, the distributors called us back and said that they couldn’t guarantee that they could get it to us or when they could get it to us.”

The usual order for the Fall season is about 1,000 to 1,200 doses, but as soon as the Center for Disease Control recommended that everyone receive a flu shot, Halpern said the University administration agreed to make it available to students for free, while faculty and staff would have to pay $10.

“We administered 1,600 doses in seven and three-quarter hours… I believe 1,200 students got their flu shot.” Halpern said.

The doses were on order for weeks, Halpern and Chief of Campus Police Bernie Gerst, the commanders of the Pandemic Flu Committee, said.

Halpern said she believed that a nationwide shortage of seasonal flu vaccines is the cause of the insufficient number of vaccines for the campus.

Big companies such as CVS, Target and Maximum Health make huge orders like 20,000 or 30,000 each year, Halpern said. There may not be enough vaccines being made by these manufacturers if they are making vaccines for the H1N1 virus as well. That takes priority, according to Halpern. Even so, many on campus who wanted to receive the shot are without their annual flu vaccinations.

“We had to tell folks that we had run out,” Gerst said. “But now the question everybody is asking is when are we going to do it again?”

Both Gerst and Halpern said that is uncertain. Neither of them know if the rest of the doses will come in one large shipment or if it will come in a little at a time.

“Hopefully by sometime in October, but that’s all we know,” Halpern said. “We don’t know for sure if they have it or how soon they can get it to us.”

Courtesy of The Towerlight