Press Releases: Northwest
October 20, 2004
Kaiser Permanente cancels Saturday flu shot clinics
Given current demand, vaccine supplies expected to last through sometime Friday
PORTLAND, Ore. – If demand for flu shots remains at the same level it did Tuesday, Kaiser Permanente expects that by the end of this week it will have given out all of the flu vaccine it allocated for a month's worth of flu shot clinics for its health plan members, prompting a cancellation of clinics that had been scheduled for this Saturday and beyond.
Kaiser Permanente nurses vaccinated more than 20,000 people on Monday and a further 9,000 on Tuesday at 12 medical offices in Salem, the greater Portland-Vancouver area, and Longview, Wash. The reduced demand on Tuesday meant Kaiser Permanente members faced far shorter lines and much briefer waits for the flu shots.
"Even though far fewer people came in on Tuesday, we still gave more flu shots than we would in a typical year," says Jan Weaver, coordinator of Kaiser Permanente's flu vaccination campaign. "If demand holds steady, we expect to go through our supply of the vaccine by sometime on Friday. So we have decided to cancel flu shot clinics that had been scheduled for Saturday and beyond."
Weaver says the organization would look at whether to resume flu shots clinics at a later time if the supply situation changes, whether due to demand dropping unexpectedly or more vaccine being made available through government reallocation.
The overwhelming majority of people coming to Kaiser Permanente for flu shots have belonged to one of the eight high-risk categories for whom the federal government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says flu vaccine should be reserved. Kaiser Permanente is only giving flu shots to those members who fall into one or more of these categories:
- people with chronic health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, Ore. asthma;
- women who will be pregnant during the flu season;
- infants and toddlers between 6 months and 2 years of age;
- children from 6 months to 18 years old who are on chronic aspirin therapy;
- out-of-home caregivers and household contacts of children less than 6 months old;
- people over age 65;
- residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities;
- health care workers who provide direct patient care.
Kaiser Permanente had ordered over 100,000 doses of vaccine from Aventis Pasteur earlier this year, more than enough to meet demand in a typical year. About half that amount had been received in the Northwest Region of Kaiser Permanente before the announcement last week that the British government was pulling the license of a different manufacturer, which made just under half the flu vaccine for the United States. The result was an immediate national shortfall of vaccine. Kaiser Permanente has been informed by its flu shot supplier that no further deliveries of vaccine can be expected while the federal government decides where undelivered vaccine should be distributed.
For the latest information about flu shots at Kaiser Permanente, from the Portland area please call 503-813-2000 and press 6, Ore. from outside the Portland area call 1-800-813-2000 (toll free) and press 6.
