Last Updated: October 13, 2004, 06:21:46 AM PDT

The federal government's decision Tuesday to redirect much of the nation's remaining flu vaccine means that, at least for the short-term, it will become even more difficult to get a flu shot in the Northern San Joaquin Valley.
County health agencies could receive additional vaccine within several weeks, but how much vaccine and when it will be available are unknown, officials said.

The government, in an agreement with Aventis Pasteur, said that 22.4 million doses of vaccine will be shipped to pediatricians, nursing homes and other agencies that care for high-risk patients.

As a result of the agreement, flu shot clinics held at local drugstores and supermarkets will be canceled after Saturday.

That is because Maxim Health Systems, the private firm that holds the clinics at stores across the country, lost half of its vaccine supply in the agreement, a company spokesman said.

Stanislaus County health officials said they think the county will get some of the redirected Aventis vaccine, but they don't know how much or when.

Clinics remain canceled

For now, the county's flu shot clinics for high-risk adults remain canceled, said David Jones, a spokesman for the Health Services Agency.

Adults in high-risk categories, including those age 50 or older, more than three months pregnant or a nursing home resident, were advised to ask their doctors if they have vaccine available. Officials have urged healthy people to skip the vaccinations this year.

The county will provide vaccinations for high-risk and lowincome children at clinics from 3 to 5 p.m. on Oct. 28 and 29. The clinics will be in the Stanislaus Behavioral Health and Recovery Conference Room at 800 Scenic Drive.

The nationwide vaccine shortage resulted last week after British regulators unexpectedly shut down a major U.S. supplier, Chiron Corp., and halted shipment of 46 million to 48 million doses.

The agreement announced Tuesday is a plan for directing available supplies of vaccine to people at greatest risk of complications from the flu.

The first of the shipments, about 14.2 million doses, begins immediately but will take six to eight weeks to finish distributing to pediatricians' offices, hospitals, nursing homes and long-term care facilities that haven't received much, if any, vaccine.

Also, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is mapping county by county the number of flu vaccine doses shipped and matching that with each county's number of high-risk residents — to direct Aventis' next shipments even more tightly.

California's Department of Health Services said it is working to obtain some of the redirected Aventis vaccine, a spokeswoman said, but the agency does not have a plan for distributing it locally.

"We are working with the CDC and local health departments to try and identify clinics that treat high-risk patients, and anticipate receiving some of that vaccine," said Rosanna Westmoreland of the state health department. "But we don't know how much we will receive for distribution."

Good news for some

The Hy-Lond convalescent hospital on Coffee Road in Modesto usually buys flu vaccine made by Chiron and has none for its 120 residents, said Kitty Logsdon, a nursing supervisor.

Tuesday's agreement was the first indication the facility could be getting some vaccine.

"They are elderly, and they are all at high risk," she said of the patients. "We have to wait and find out who is going to distribute the vaccine. I am sure we will wind up with some."

Some of the only publicly available vaccinations in the valley and foothills have been at Maxim's clinics held at supermarkets and drugstores.

Some of those stores have looked like waiting rooms, with people seated in chairs and lines extending out the doors.

Modesto resident Archie McMillan, waiting outside the Save Mart supermarket on Pelandale Avenue, said the federal government and state need to change the way they buy vaccine to avoid shortages.

"This is an inconvenience for a lot of people," he said.

Store manager Gary Rector said that people started lining up at 5 a.m. Tuesday for one of the 200 doses available at the Save Mart clinic, which started at 10 a.m.

Store employees provided chairs and bottled water for the people waiting. "Some of these people are not used to standing this long," he said.

Stanislaus County's pediatric flu shot clinics are for high-risk children, 6 months to 18 years of age, who are eligible through the Child Health Disability Prevention Program or Medi-Cal. The shots are also for children not covered by insurance and those who are American Indian or native Alaskan. Information on the remaining Maxim Health Systems clinics is available at www.findaflushot.com.

Bee staff writer Ken Carlson can be reached at 578-2321 or kcarlson@modbee.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.