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U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

“Stockpiles Tapped as Supplies of Vaccines Run Short” USA Today (www.usatoday.com) (02/18/02) P. 1B; Appleby, Julie;

Manning, Anita

Temporary shortages of vaccines are forcing U.S. health officials to pull stock from the national supply, though some hospitals and physicians are still hard pressed to obtain sufficient quantities.  Shortfalls caused by fewer manufacturers making the vaccines and production problems among the few that do have created a short supply of at least eight of the 11 recommended childhood vaccines, including tetanus, diphtheria, a pneumococcal vaccine against bacterial meningitis, and the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the average nationwide delivery of the MMR vaccine dropped 61 percent below demand in October and November.  Merck is producing some MMR vaccine; however, the United States uses 1.8 million doses of the vaccine every month, and the CDC has twice asked to dip into a stockpile of 3.1 million doses.  Health officials are concerned, commented Dr.  Walter Orenstein, director of the CDC’s National Immunization Program, as he noted that between 1989 and 1991, an outbreak of 55,000 cases of measles hospitalized 11,000 people and killed 123.

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