State Suspending Rules To Handle Vaccine Shortage
February 14, 2002
By WILLIAM HATHAWAY, Courant Staff Writer

In the face of a national vaccine shortage, Connecticut health officials are suspending the requirement that children entering daycare centers be immunized for chickenpox and have their 15- to 18-month booster shot for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis.

The two vaccines are among several that are expected to remain in short supply until at least this summer, health officials said Wednesday.

"I'm sure physicians are already rescheduling patients," said Vincent Sacco, manager of the state Department of Public Health's immunization program. "Unfortunately, we can't keep up with orders."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which distributes vaccines nationally, has been redirecting supplies of scarce vaccines to states that have less than a month's supply on hand, Sacco said.

Manufacturing difficulties, a decision by one company to end vaccine production and higher-than-expected demand for other products are among the factors that have led to a national shortage of eight vaccines, CDC officials have said.

The Connecticut chapter of the American Academy of Pediatricians wants lawmakers to investigate the cause of the shortages.

"It's unfathomable how this could happen," said Dr. Jean Marconi, Norwalk pediatrician and president of the academy's state chapter.

Marconi said doctors will be asked to keep track of children who were scheduled for shots and call them back when there are adequate supplies.

"Some will be missed," she said.

Federal officials say they hope the shortage will be relieved by fall, when Connecticut kindergartners and seventh-graders must be current on immunizations to enter school.

The chickenpox, or varicella, vaccine, is recommended for children after their first birthday, but may not be readily available in Connecticut. The Grove Hill Medical Center in New Britain is down to 30 doses of varicella vaccine, said practice manager Allen Meyerjack.

"I don't know if we'll make it to the end of the month," he said.

To relieve shortages of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine, health officials decided to postpone the requirement that children entering daycare get their fourth booster by the age of 18 months.

The state also faces shortages of the diphtheria-tetanus vaccine, which is usually given to adolescents and adults, and of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, which protects against pneumonia and meningitis, as well as ear infections that afflict millions of children each year.

Marconi said babies already have been reduced from the normal four-shot regimen of the pneumococcal vaccine to two shots, and that if the shortage worsens the CDC may recommend that only children with conditions such as compromised immune systems, diabetes or sickle cell anemia get the shots.

Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories last year stopped making diphtheria-tetanus vaccines, and is trying to step up production of Prevnar, the company's pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, because demand has outstripped supply, Sacco said. Merck & Co. has said it stopped making varicella vaccine for several months to improve sterility in the manufacturing process.