Parents seeking immunizations for their children... NO Vaccines

[Guest guest]

This is probably a blessing

 

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http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-vaccine-shortages0211feb11

 

..story -

 

 

Panel Looks for Vaccine Solutions

By JANELLE CARTER

Associated Press Writer

February 11, 2002, 6:59 PM EST

 

WASHINGTON -- A federal panel on Monday looked at how to boost supplies of

vaccines after reports that shortages have doctors in virtually every state

turning away parents seeking immunizations for their children.

 

" It's bad, " said Dr. Louis Cooper, president of the American Academy of

Pediatrics. " We've spent 30 years building a total pediatric prevention

program around vaccines. Suddenly we're having to tell them we don't have any

vaccines. "

 

The vaccine shortage has been building for at least the last two years,

experts said. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said

there were severe shortages in eight of 11 vaccines, including vaccines for

chickenpox and DTaP, which protects against diphtheria and whooping cough.

 

The panel did not recommend a specific plan, but said creating vaccine

stockpiles and giving drug companies financial incentives to continue

researching and developing vaccines were among the suggestions offered.

 

" If we want manufacturers to put in research, there has to be a profit

incentive, " said Dr. Jerome Klein, a Boston University School of Medicine

professor and member of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee. He and

others noted that the cost of research often curbs a company's profit margin.

 

The shortage could set back the vaccination program at a time when

immunization rates are higher than ever. Today, more than 90 percent of

America's toddlers receive critical vaccines by age 2. In 1993, less than 63

percent of children under age 3 had received the full course of vaccinations.

 

" The real concern we have is that children who are turned away won't come

back or won't be reached when vaccine supplies are available, " said Dr.

Walter Orenstein, director of the CDC's national immunization program. " We're

quite worried we might see the return of some outbreaks. "

 

House lawmakers have asked the General Accounting Office to investigate the

shortages, which have many causes.

 

In the case of the tetanus vaccine, Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories unexpectedly

left the market last year, so Aventis Pasteur is now the only major supplier

of tetanus shots in the United States.

 

Demand has led to a shortage of the popular new vaccine Prevnar, which fights

the bacterium streptococcus pneumoniae, the leading cause of pneumonia,

meningitis and millions of ear infections every year in children.

 

Still, drug companies and experts believe the shortage will end sometime this

year.

 

Doctors " can't understand how this country can have a shortage, " Cooper said.

" It's destabilizing our vaccine effort in a period of incredible,

unparalleled success. "

 

* __ On the Net:

 

National Immunization Program: http://www.cdc.gov/nip/

 

American Academy of Pediatrics: http://www.aap.org

 

National Vaccine Program Office: http://www.cdc.gov/od/nvpo/default.htm

 

>>

[Guest guest]

I wonder what their plot is now?

If they take away, people would want more?

 

 

-

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-vaccine-shortages0211feb11.s\

tory -

 

 

Panel Looks for Vaccine Solutions

By JANELLE CARTER

Associated Press Writer

February 11, 2002, 6:59 PM EST

 

WASHINGTON -- A federal panel on Monday looked at how to boost supplies of

vaccines after reports that shortages have doctors in virtually every state

turning away parents seeking immunizations for their children.

 

" It's bad, " said Dr. Louis Cooper, president of the American Academy of

Pediatrics. " We've spent 30 years building a total pediatric prevention program

around vaccines. Suddenly we're having to tell them we don't have any vaccines. "

 

The vaccine shortage has been building for at least the last two years, experts

said. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were

severe shortages in eight of 11 vaccines, including vaccines for chickenpox and

DTaP, which protects against diphtheria and whooping cough.

 

The panel did not recommend a specific plan, but said creating vaccine

stockpiles and giving drug companies financial incentives to continue

researching and developing vaccines were among the suggestions offered.

 

" If we want manufacturers to put in research, there has to be a profit

incentive, " said Dr. Jerome Klein, a Boston University School of Medicine

professor and member of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee. He and others

noted that the cost of research often curbs a company's profit margin.

 

The shortage could set back the vaccination program at a time when immunization

rates are higher than ever. Today, more than 90 percent of America's toddlers

receive critical vaccines by age 2. In 1993, less than 63 percent of children

under age 3 had received the full course of vaccinations.

 

" The real concern we have is that children who are turned away won't come back

or won't be reached when vaccine supplies are available, " said Dr. Walter

Orenstein, director of the CDC's national immunization program. " We're quite

worried we might see the return of some outbreaks. "

 

House lawmakers have asked the General Accounting Office to investigate the

shortages, which have many causes.

 

In the case of the tetanus vaccine, Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories unexpectedly left

the market last year, so Aventis Pasteur is now the only major supplier of

tetanus shots in the United States.

 

Demand has led to a shortage of the popular new vaccine Prevnar, which fights

the bacterium streptococcus pneumoniae, the leading cause of pneumonia,

meningitis and millions of ear infections every year in children.

 

Still, drug companies and experts believe the shortage will end sometime this

year.

 

Doctors " can't understand how this country can have a shortage, " Cooper said.

" It's destabilizing our vaccine effort in a period of incredible, unparalleled

success. "

 

* __ On the Net:

 

National Immunization Program: http://www.cdc.gov/nip/

 

American Academy of Pediatrics: http://www.aap.org

 

National Vaccine Program Office: http://www.cdc.gov/od/nvpo/default.htm