Texas Continues to Order Its Full Allocation of H1N1 Vaccine

Texas continues to order its full allocation of H1N1 vaccine, but the national supply still isn't adequate to meet the public demand.

“We know that the best way for people to protect themselves from the flu is to get the vaccine, but the national supply is still very low,” said Dr. David Lakey, Texas Department of State Health Services commissioner.

Texas had expected to receive 3.4 million doses of the vaccine by mid-October, according to the initial projections from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, the state has received less than 1 million doses so far.

The CDC allocates the vaccine to states based on population and tells states each week how much vaccine is available for them to order. As of today, the state has ordered about one million doses allocated to the state and provided the CDC with information on where to ship those doses. The vaccine is still in the process of being shipped out.

“Given the limited national supply at this point, we want to make sure we use our first shipments to protect those at highest risk of complications from the flu – pregnant women and children,” Dr. Lakey said.

About 12,000 doctors and other health care providers have signed up to provide the vaccine in Texas. The state directed the first shipments to 5,000 providers who serve primarily pregnant women, children and health care workers who provide patient care.

Dr. Lakey said the state hopes to receive 15 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine by mid-January, assuming that production meets initial projections.

***“Vaccine will be available to the general public as soon as production catches up with the demand,” he said. “The process is driven by the manufacturers' capacity.”***

A total of 142,400 doses of the H1N1 vaccine were earmarked for Texas in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s first weekly allocation to states announced last week. Texas had expected to get 237,000 in the first allocation.

The bulk of the 142,400 doses for Texas will be sent to some pre-registered doctors, clinics and other providers to vaccinate healthy 2- and 3-year-olds, part of a priority group to receive the vaccine. All of the doses are the FluMist brand nasal spray form of the vaccine. FluMist is only approved for use in vaccinating people 2 years through 49 years of age who are not pregnant and do not have certain chronic health conditions.

That vaccine is expected to be received over the next two weeks as the selected, pre-registered providers confirm with DSHS that they still want the vaccine in the quantities allotted.

Some 10,600 of the 142,400 doses are being sent to local public health departments and some DSHS regional sites, but DSHS officials said the quantities are not enough for public vaccination clinics and that each local department can determine how best to use the limited, initial supply.

A few of the local health departments received the vaccine Monday. State health officials had not expected any doses to be received in Texas till later this week at the earliest.

DSHS officials expect the weekly availability of the vaccine to be low for the first few weeks with volume predicted to increase later this month. They are urging providers and the public to be patient.

DSHS will provide another update early next week to announce the final Texas vaccine allocation for this week.

Texas expects to receive 15 million doses of the vaccine by the end of January.