Thursday, June 13, 2002

By Sarah Kellogg
Washington Bureau
 

WASHINGTON -- After more than a year of pediatric vaccine shortages in Michigan and nationwide, the end may be near.

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On Wednesday, officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said that shortages of pediatric vaccines appear to be over and doctors soon will have sufficient supplies to meet patient needs.

"Current information from manufacturers indicates that many of these shortages will be over before the end of the summer, and most will be resolved by the end of this year," Walter Orenstein, director of the CDC's National Immunization Program, told the Senate Government Affairs Committee during a hearing on vaccine shortages.

And Michigan health officials are urging parents to get their kids' shots updated sooner rather than later.

"Waiting for the back-to-school rush isn't a good idea," said Geralyn Lasher, a department spokeswoman. "Parents should take their children to the doctor to get their deferred doses or to complete their schedule of immunizations if they've been postponed."

Lasher said the state's immunization registry, which tracks vaccinations for Michigan children, reflected the shortages with slight declines in immunization rates for the four pediatric vaccines that weren't regularly available in 2001 and into 2002.

Those four vaccines -- diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP), pneumococcal-conjugate (meningitis), measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) and varicella (chicken pox) -- protect kids against eight of the 11 vaccine-preventable childhood diseases.

Officials say that adult booster shots for tetanus and diphtheria, which have been sharply curtailed due to shortages, will be back on track as well.

But the news isn't all good. Lasher said the CDC alerted officials that there will be a shortage of Prevnar, the pneumococcal-conjugate vaccine that immunizes children under the age of 2 against meningitis and blood infections. There is no shortage of a different meningitis vaccine for teens and adults.

Officials blame the shortages on a variety of problems, ranging from manufacturers discontinuing production to new federal rules requiring companies to reformulate vaccines.

"Given the complexity of biological materials and manufacturing, and the need to maintain quality and consistency during production, ... production delays or shortages often surface," said Lester Crawford, deputy commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, which oversees vaccine production.

For example, the DTaP shortage began in 2000, when two manufacturers quit producing the vaccine. The remaining two companies couldn't handle the demand, which is high given that immunization schedules recommend that children receive five separate doses of DTaP before the age of 7.

Michigan physicians say the shortages have come at a difficult time.

"Michigan's immunization rates overall had been below the national average, and we've had a campaign to try to increase that," said Dr. Dorothy Kahkonen, president of the Michigan State Medical Society, a group that represents doctors. "It's frustrating to think you're finally going to succeed with your education efforts with physicians ... and then they don't have the vaccine available."

As of July 2001, Michigan's immunization rate mirrored the national rate with 84 percent of children receiving the majority of their immunizations, according to the CDC.