Shortages on Children's Flu Vaccines: H1N1 and Seasonal Flu

My daughter is required by the county health department and her school to receive the seasonal flu vaccine. I am not sure that I am happy with the H1N1 vaccine but her doctor recommends it for her. We had an appointment set up for her to get her seasonal flu vaccine and found out that the doctor's office had run out of the H1N1 and the seasonal flu vaccines. They were canceling people's appointments and telling people to check in every week to see if they came in yet.

First off they did not receive the seasonal flu shots for children as early as they expected to and within about a week and a half they were completely out. They have no idea exactly when they are getting more in. The doctor had told us that Novartis who is the maker of their seasonal flu vaccine is also the maker of the H1N1 vaccine. According to our doctor, Novartis has been pushing hard on the production of the H1N1 vaccine, as it is not something that is easily mass produced, and they have not been pumping out enough of the seasonal flu vaccine. Now my daughter needs proof of receiving the seasonal flu vaccine for school and we are unsure of when more vaccines will come in. There are many doctors who are experiencing this shortage. It is bad when they have no idea when to expect them in. I was told to call every Monday and see if they had any dates for delivery yet.

I have noticed that nobody seems to have gotten the children's flu vaccines early. The first day of school we got the notice about requiring it for her age group and we have been trying since to get her the shot. All of the flu shot clinics that got set up were only for adults, saying they had not received the children's vaccine yet. They even had a table set up at the school that was giving people flu shots on a night the school had a special event, safety night. This was through the county and they only had the adults, no children. At the school with the same county that requires her to get the shot but yet they did not even have it! At that time the county was unable to give an answer as to when the shot for children would be in. The seasonal flu vaccine for children is like gold right now.

This was based on my experience of taking my daughter to get the flu shot. State to state or even different doctors may vary on the availability of the vaccines.

Information about Novartis is information that I have foreseen for months before it really started happening and it is also what my doctor had told me. I am an investor who invests primarily in pharmaceutical companies and some of the companies have vaccines for H1N1 in trials. It is also no fault to Novartis, it is an egg based vaccine that takes 6-9 months to produce. Besides my doctor telling me I have no particular place that I got this information from.