Question: I got my first shingles shot with the new vaccine in March. I’ve been calling Longs for a few weeks to get the second shot, but they have been out for a while and don’t know when they’ll be getting more. I’m starting to get concerned because there is a limited period during which the second shot can be administered. I’m not sure how the insurance would handle things if it’s too late to get the second shot. Could you find out why there is such a shortage and when the shots might be available?
Answer: “CVS Pharmacy, including our Longs stores in Hawaii, began offering the Shingrix vaccine to patients broadly in mid-March. Due to high demand for this new and highly-effective vaccine, it has become challenging to keep an ample supply due to supply restrictions from the manufacturer. We are still getting shipments intermittently. Patients are encouraged to call their local store in advance to find out if the store has the Shingrix vaccine in stock,” Mike DeAngelis, a Rhode Island- based spokesman for CVS Health, which owns Longs Drugs, told Kokua Line in an email Friday.
To be clear, this is a nationwide shortage that affects more than CVS. For example, we called a total of six Longs (CVS), Costco, Walgreens and Safeway pharmacies in Honolulu on Friday, and none had Shingrix available. It was uncertain when supplies would be replenished, although most said within weeks, not months.
Health care organizations are affected, too. For example, Laura M. Lott, spokeswoman for Kaiser Permanente, said Kaiser has some vaccine in stock, and is giving priority to Kaiser patients who need their second dose. Kaiser hopes for a fuller supply by mid- to late August, she said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted a notice on its website last month saying that due to high demand for Shingrix, manufacturer GSK “has implemented order limits and providers have experienced shipping delays. It is anticipated these order limits and shipping delays will continue throughout 2018.”
GSK has ramped up production to increase the U.S. supply and would release doses “on a consistent and predictable schedule” for the rest of the year, the CDC said, although it would take time for back orders to catch up.
As for the dosing schedule, although it is recommended that the second shot be given two to six months after the first, you can receive it later. “The vaccine series need not be restarted if more than six months have elapsed since the first dose,” the CDC states, while noting that individuals might remain at risk for herpes zoster, also known as shingles, during a longer than recommended dosage interval.
As for insurance coverage, insurers are aware of the national shortage, so your claim seems unlikely to be denied. If your second dose is not available within the next two months, document that fact and get the shot as soon as you can thereafter.
Shingrix is recommended for healthy adults age 50 and older to prevent shingles and related complications, including severe pain that can persist even after the blistering skin rash clears up.
Ronald Balajadia, immunization branch chief for the state Department of Health, said one of the reasons the Shingrix vaccine is so popular is because shingles is such a painful disease that “people understandably don’t want to experience.”
With Shingrix in continuous production, Hawaii pharmacies are restocking it as soon as the manufacturer allows. Patients should call ahead to confirm that their provider has any available. “It sounds tedious but that is the best advice we have right now,” he said.
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
