Editorial: Shortages plaguing vaccine supplies

Summary: Federal health officials should move to ensure an adequate, steady supply of vaccines for childhood immunizations.

Shortages of vaccines for childhood immunizations have caused rationing of one or more vaccines at 49 state and local programs around the country, a Senate subcommittee was told last week.

The General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress, told the subcommittee in its report that “the potential for recurring shortages will remain.” Among the causes is a dearth of manufacturers, presumably because of lack of financial incentive. Five of the eight recommended childhood vaccines have only one manufacturer each.

It’s up to federal health officials to rectify this, whether by encouraging manufacturing, stockpiling at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or crafting another, innovative, plan. Relying on private corporations clearly is not working; shortages have occurred for the past two years.

Some people are down on vaccinations and have blamed cases of autism, allergic diseases, autoimmune diseases, intestinal problems, brain damage and blindness on them. But overwhelming public health wisdom says that widespread immunization since the mid-1900s has virtually wiped out diseases that terrified our grandparents – and still today terrify people in countries without the means to vaccinate.

Smallpox, which covered victims’ bodies with crusty lesions and usually killed them, has been sent packing from the planet because of immunization. The last naturally contracted case was in Somalia in 1977. Polio has been eradicated in the Western Hemisphere. The last wild case in the United States was contracted in 1979. Other diseases, like pertussis, have been greatly reduced.

With the end of these scourges has come the end of horrific human suffering, lifelong disability and expense.

Some states have scaled back their requirements for school and day care immunization requirements because of the shortages. Montana has not. But some health departments are juggling their stocks and prioritizing patients.

The essential role of public health is to identify threats to the public’s health and protect that health with every available resource. Public health is largely a government function. We should have thought ahead to avoid these shortages. Now that they’re with us, federal health officials need to find a long-term solution.

Monday, September 23, 2002

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